The Maiden
by Sincere Friendship
Summary: When they met, it was as man and woman. Consumed by passion so sudden and deep, the world exploded with one kiss. Only later did she discover that he had been the hated Prince. Furious, she swore enmity to him, but nothing would stop him from winning her.
1. Destiny

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_(__**MUST READ A/N:**__ Okay, so here are a few things you readers should know before reading the story._

_Takaishi Michel (pronounced mih-SHELL) is Matt and TK's grandfather in France from the Digimon Adventure 02 series. For those who do not know him, let me say that's he's not an OC._

_Confusing names: Hiroaki and Natsuko are the real names of Matt and TK's parents in the series. Keisuke and Satoe are Mimi's parents, and Hiroki is Iori's father. I'll only be using names from the Digimon series and if there are any OC's, I will always let you know._

_On that note, Shinichi, "Shin" for short, is the name I've given TK's son. He's an OC._

"_Hiro" is Mimi's nickname for Hiroaki. I thought the nickname would symbolize her familiarity with her adoptive father._

_The names of the places are from the Digital World. The tribe names also relate to each place or region. Except for "Og'rilah," which I got from World of Warcraft. I used it because the people in the tribe are ogre-looking._

_As for the characters' ages, I'm going to mess around with it. Matt/Tai/Sora will be 25, TK/Ken/Daisuke 23, Mimi/Kari 21, Iori will be way younger, and as for the rest, it's not that important… yet._

_For the sibling thing, I had originally intended for Daisuke to be Mimi's and Matt's half-brother, but I thought Ken would be more suitable because he's light-skinned like Matt and Mimi and he has blue eyes. And he's super hot so it fits perfectly. Remember, Matt and Mimi are __**not**__ related! They share a brother, but not parents! I'm not into incest._

_That's it for now. I'm gonna try to have an author's note addressing things that might be confusing in every chapter.)_

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 1  
Destiny**

Michel stood hidden in the shadows of the castle's stone walls and looked at his grandson, who sat in the window enclosure, Matt's golden hair bathed in sunlight, his handsome face frowning in concentration as he studied the manuscript before him. Michel didn't like to think how much this young man had come to mean to him over the years. Matt was the son he wished he had been able to breed.

As Michel looked at the tall, broad-shouldered, slim-hipped, handsome young man, he once again wondered how that ugly Hiroaki could have bred someone like Matt. Hiroaki called himself King of Draconia but he wore animal skins, his long blond hair was dirty and hung past his shoulders, and he ate and spoke like the barbarian he was. His name, meaning "widespread brightness" was a complete contrast to his dirty appearance.

Michel was disgusted by him and only allowed him to remain in his house at the request of the Minister. Michel had given the man the hospitality of his estate and had instructed his steward to plan entertainments for the loud, crude vulgarian, but Michel himself had stayed as far as possible from the hideous young man.

Now, looking at Matt, Michel's stomach tightened in remembered anguish. While Michel was busying himself far away from the barbarian king, his beautiful, kind, dear daughter, Natsuko, had been falling in love with the odious man. By the time Michel realized what was happening, Natsuko was so deeply bewitched by the man that she was vowing to kill herself if she couldn't have him. The stupid barbarian king didn't even seem to realize that Natsuko was endangering her immortal soul by the mere mention of suicide.

Nothing Michel said could dissuade Natsuko. Michel pointed out the repulsiveness of Hiroaki's person and Natsuko looked at him as if he were stupid. "He's not repulsive to a woman," she had said, laughing in a way that made Michel slightly queasy as he thought of that greasy man's hands on Natsuko's slim, blonde person.

In the end, the Minister had made Michel's decision for him. He said there weren't many Draconians but they were a fierce bunch, and if their king wanted a rich and beautiful bride, he should have her.

So King Hiro married Michel's beautiful daughter, Natsuko. Michel stayed drunk for ten days, hoping that when he sobered, it would all turn out to be his imagination. But when he woke from his drunken stupor, he saw Hiroaki, a head taller than his tall daughter, swooping down on her, and enveloping her fair loveliness with his darkness.

Nine months later, Matt had been born. From the first moment he laid eyes on him, Michel had been inordinately fond of the pretty blond child. His own sonless marriage made him hungry for a son.

Hiroaki showed no interest in the baby. "Bah! It screams at one end and stinks at the other. Children belong to women. I'll wait until he's a man," Hiroaki had grunted in that strangely deep and barbaric voice of his. He was much more interested in when Natsuko would be well enough to return to his bed.

Michel had adopted Matt as his own, spending endless hours making toys for the boy, playing with the child, holding his chubby fingers as he took his first steps. Matt was fast becoming Michel's reason for living.

When Matt was two years old, his brother, Takeru, was born. Like his brother, he was a pretty blond child, and looked as if he had inherited nothing from his swarthy father.

When Takeru was five days old, Natsuko had died.

In his grief, Michel saw nothing but his own misery. He didn't see the brooding emptiness of Hiroaki. All Michel knew was that Hiroaki was the cause of his beloved daughter's death. So he ordered Hiroaki from his house.

Heavily, Hiroaki had said he would pack his men and children and leave in the morning to return to Draconia.

Michel had not comprehended Hiroaki's words, but when he heard noise in the courtyard below, he realized that Hiroaki meant to take Matt and the new baby from him. Michel went berserk. A normally sane man, he acted out of rage, grief, and fear. He gathered his own knights from the barracks and attacked Hiroaki and his personal guard while they slept.

Michel had never seen men fight as these Draconians did. They were outnumbered four to one but still, three of them, including Hiroaki, managed to escape.

Dripping blood from several deep slashes in his arms and legs and one across his right cheek, Hiroaki stood on the castle wall in the pink light of dawn and cursed Michel and his men. Hiroaki said he knew Michel wanted Prince Yamato but he would never get him. Matt was Draconian and someday, Matt would come home to him.

Then Hiroaki and his men had escaped over the wall and disappeared into the forest.

Michel's bad luck began with that night. Where once his life had been touched with gold, it soon turned to lead. His wife had died of the pox a month later, and then the pox had killed over half his peasants, leaving the grain unharvested in the fields. An early snow left the fields rotting.

Michel remarried, this time to a fat healthy twenty-year-old who proved to be fertile as a rabbit. She gave him four sons in four years then conveniently died with the last one.

Michel didn't grieve since he had found that when his infatuation with her beautiful young body had worn off, she was a stupid, frivolous girl who was no companion.

Michel had the care of his own four sons and Natsuko's two children. The contrast was stark. Matt and Takeru were tall and beautiful, golden-haired and handsome. They were intelligent, eager to learn, polite, while his own sons were stupid and clumsy, sullen and resentful.

They hated Matt and teased Takeru viciously. Michel knew this was his punishment for what he had done to Hiroaki. He even began to believe it was Natsuko's ghost repaying him for his crime against her husband.

When Matt was ten, a man came to Michel's castle, an old man with a beard hanging to the middle of his chest, a circle of gold set with four rubies on his head. He said his name was Gennai and that he was from Draconia and that he had come to teach Matt Draconian ways.

Michel had been ready to run the old man through with a sword until Matt had stepped forward. It was almost as if the boy had known the man was going to come and had been waiting for him.

"I am Prince Yamato," he had said solemnly.

In that moment, Michel knew he was losing the most precious thing on earth to him—and there was nothing he could do to prevent the loss.

The old man remained, sleeping somewhere deep within the castle—Michel didn't ask where—and spent every waking moment with Matt.

Matt had always been a serious child, had always taken whatever duties Michel gave him seriously, but now it seemed that Matt's capacity for study was limitless.

The old man taught Matt both in the classroom and on the training field. At first, Michel objected because some of the Draconian methods of fighting were, to a knight like Michel, entirely without honor.

Neither Matt nor Gennai paid him any attention and Matt learned to fight on his feet with sword and lance, with a stick, with clubs, and, to Michel's horror, with his fists. No knight fought except from the back of a horse.

Matt didn't advance as other aristocratic young men did but remained at his uncle's castle and studied with Gennai.

Michel's own sons left, one by one, to live with other knights and train as their squires. They returned with their spurs and their knighthood, their resentment for Matt even stronger. One by one, Michel's sons reached manhood and challenged Matt to a tilt, hoping to lay him low in order to gain their father's favor.

However, there was no contest as Matt easily knocked each young man from his horse then returned to his studies without so much as raising a sweat.

Michel's sons loudly protested their nephew's presence in their home and Michel watched as his ignorant sons unfastened Matt's saddle, stole his precious books, and laughed at him in front of guests. But Matt never got angry, a fact that infuriated his ill-mannered uncles.

The only time Michel saw Matt get angry was when his brother, Takeru, asked permission to marry a lessor land baron's daughter who was visiting Michel. Matt had raged at Takeru that he was Draconian and when he was called upon, he must return to his home as prince.

Michel was stunned, partly by Matt's show of temper, but more so by Matt's referring to Draconia as "home." He felt betrayed, as if all the love he had given the boy was not returned.

Michel helped Takeru in his marriage plans, but his wife had died after only two years of marriage and Takeru returned to his grandfather's home with his infant son, Shinichi. Matt had smiled and welcomed him.

"Now we will be ready," he had said, putting his arm around Takeru and holding his new nephew.

Today, Michel was looking at Matt. It was twenty-five years since a golden child had been born to Michel's lovely daughter and in that time, Michel had come to love the boy more than he loved his own soul.

But it was over now, for outside stood a hundred of the tall, dark, scarred Draconian warriors, sitting atop their short-legged, barrel-chested horses, each man wearing a grim expression and a hundred pounds of weapons.

They were obviously prepared for a fight.

Their leader rode forward and announced to Michel that they had come for the children of Hiroaki, that Hiroaki lay on his deathbed and Matt was to be made king.

Michel's inclination was to refuse, to fight to keep Matt until he had no more breath, but Michel's oldest son had pushed his hesitant father aside and welcomed the Draconians with open arms.

Michel knew defeat when he saw it. One couldn't fight to keep something that didn't want to be kept.

With a heavy heart, he went up the stairs to Takeru's chambers, where Matt sat in the window enclosure, studying. His tutor, old to begin with, was now ancient, but when he saw Michel's face, he eased his arthritic body from the chair and went to stand before Matt, then slowly dropped to one knee.

As Matt looked at Gennai's face, understanding came to him.

"Long live King Yamato," Gennai said, his head bowed.

Matt nodded solemnly and looked at Takeru, who had laid his baby down for a nap. "It's time," he said softly. "Now, we go home."

Michel slipped away so the tears in his eyes would not be seen.

_**Draconia**_

Mimi stood very still in the knee-deep water, her light spear held aloft, poised above the lazily swimming fish, waiting for the moment to skewer the fish. The sun wasn't quite up yet, just enough to silhouette the Mugen Mountains behind her and the shadowy fish at her feet.

She had discarded the tap pants to her warrior's uniform on the bank and now wore only the soft, embroidered tunic that was the badge of her profession, her legs bare from mid-thigh down. The water was icy cold but she was used to discomfort and had been trained from an early age to ignore the pain.

To her left, she heard a footstep and knew someone was coming, a woman by the lightness of the step. She didn't show any outward sign of movement but her muscles tensed, ready to spring. She continued holding the spear above her right shoulder but now, she was ready to turn and cast the spear at the intruder.

She smiled without moving her face. It was Sora. Sora, her teacher and friend, was soundlessly—almost anyway—moving through the forest.

Mimi speared a fat fish. "Will you join me for breakfast, Sora?" she called as she pulled the flopping fish from the spear and walked toward the bank. Mimi was five foot ten with a body made magnificent by years of hard, demanding exercise.

Sora stepped from the trees and smiled at her friend. "Your hearing is excellent, as always."

She also wore the white tunic and tap pants of the Mistheart warrior, thick leather belt around her thin waist, soft leather boots reaching to her knees, wrapped with cross garters from ankle to knee, with hard shin guards matching the color of her uniform. She was taller than Mimi, with long, lean legs, high, firm breasts, a supple spine, and she held herself as erect as a birch, but her face didn't have that startling quality of beauty that Mimi's did. Her face was also beginning to show her age of twenty-five when she was next to Mimi's fresh twenty-one.

"He's here," Sora said softly.

The only indication Mimi gave that she had heard was the slightest hesitation as she arranged the twigs to build a fire to roast her fish.

"Mimi," Sora said, her voice pleading, "you have to face this someday. He will be our king."

Mimi straightened and whirled to face her friend, her cinnamon, braided hair moving and her beautiful face showing her rage. "He is not _my_ king! He will never be my king. He is an outsider. His mother was a soft white woman who sits by the fire all day and sews. She didn't even have the strength to bear Hiro many children. Ken is the rightful king. _He_ had a Draconian mother."

Sora had heard this a hundred times. "Yes, Satoe was a wonderful woman and Ken is a great warrior but he wasn't the firstborn son nor was Satoe the legal wife of Hiroaki."

Mimi turned away, trying to get her anger under control. In training, she could be so cool, could keep her thoughts clear even when Sora devised some trick, such as ordering five women to attack Mimi at once, but there was one area where Mimi's fury could not be controlled, and that was when she thought of Ken.

Years before Mimi was born, King Hiroaki had traveled to a foreign land in an effort to build an alliance with an outside nation. Instead of attending to the purpose of his journey, he had neglected his business and fallen under the spell of some vapid, weak, and useless white woman. He had married her and remained by her side for two years, producing two puny, mewling brats who were too weak to return to Draconia with him after his frail wife had died.

People said Hiroaki was never the same after he returned from his journey. He refused to marry a proper Draconian woman, although he spent some time in bed with the beautiful, nobly born Satoe, who was in fact a princess from a distant land. Though Mimi was unaware of her mother's foreign origins.

A short time later, Satoe bore him Ken, a son who was everything a man could want, but Hiroaki still kept brooding. In despair, hoping to force him into marrying her, Satoe asked permission to marry Keisuke, Hiroaki's most trusted guard. Hiroaki barely shrugged his shoulders as he agreed. Two years after Ken's birth, Satoe gave birth to Mimi.

"Ken has the right to be king," Mimi repeated, her voice calmer.

"Hiroaki has made his choice. If he wants his foreign son to be king, then we must honor that choice."

Mimi was angrily scaling the fish with her knife. "I hear he has white skin and white hair. That he's as thin and frail as a stalk of wheat. He has a brother too. No doubt they will cry for their fancy comforts. How can we respect a foreign king when he doesn't know anything about us?"

"Hiroaki sent Gennai to him years ago. I've heard legends of the man's wisdom."

"Bah! He is Inkheart," Mimi said with contempt, referring to another tribe of the Draconians. The Inkhearts believed they could fight wars with words. The young men trained with books and learning rather than with swords. "How can an Inkheart teach a man to be _king_? No doubt Gennai taught him to read and tell stories. What does an Inkheart know about battles? When the Og'rilahs attack our city, will our new king try to tell them fairy tales until they fall off their horses in sleep?"

"Mimi, you aren't being fair. We haven't met the man. He is Hiroaki's son and—"

"So is Ken!" Mimi spat. "Can this outsider know half what Ken does about Draconia?" She gestured to the mountains to the north, those beloved mountains that had protected Draconia from centuries of invaders. "He has never even seen our mountains," she said as if this were the final disgrace.

"Nor has he seen me," Sora said softly.

Mimi's eyes widened. Hiroaki, long ago, had said he wanted his son Matt to marry Sora. "Surely Hiro has forgotten that. He said that years ago. You were only a child at the time."

"No, he hasn't forgotten. This morning when he heard his son was near Dragon's Eye Lake, he revived enough to send for me. He wants Tai and me to meet him."

"Tai?" Mimi gasped then smiled as she thought of the tall, handsome, chocolate-eyed Tai, the man she was to marry, the man she had loved since she was a child.

Sora gave her friend a look of disgust. "Your only concern is for the man you love? You don't care that I'm being ordered to marry a man who you have described as weak, puny—"

"I'm sorry," Mimi said, and felt guilty for thinking only of herself. It would truly be awful to have to marry someone one didn't know. To think of living day in and day out with a man whose every movement, every thought was strange and repulsive to her. "I apologize. Did Hiro really say he planned for you to _marry_ this… this…?" She couldn't think of a description for this foreigner.

"He said it's what he has always planned." Sora sat down on the ground by the little fire Mimi now had going and her face showed her anguish. "I think Hiroaki fears what you fear, that this son of his, who he hasn't seen in twenty something years, will be all that you think he is. But still, he's determined to have his way. The more people who try to dissuade him, the more adamant he becomes."

"I see," Mimi said thoughtfully, and looked at Sora for a long moment. Perhaps Hiroaki wasn't such a doting fool after all. Sora was a logical, intelligent woman who had proved herself on several battlefields in the past. Sora was able to control her emotions, and most important, her temper, under the most stressful conditions. If this foreigner prince was as weak as people said, Sora's intelligence and wisdom could perhaps keep Draconia from falling under his rule. "Draconia may get a sulking brat for a king but we will have a wise Draconian woman for queen."

"Thank you," Sora said. "Yes, that's what I think Hiroaki has in mind and I'm honored by his trust in me, but I…"

"You want a _man_ for a husband," Mimi said with feeling. "You want someone like Tai: tall and strong and lusty and intelligent and—"

Sora laughed. "Yes, I can admit to you, my best friend, that even though I'm greatly honored, I'm thinking with the softness of a woman. Does this foreigner _really_ have white hair? Who told you that?"

"Hiro," Mimi answered. "One time, he talked about the white woman he so stupidly married. He did it once in front of my mother, and my father took her from the room." Mimi's mouth tightened into a grimace, although the expression didn't take away from her beauty.

Both of her parents had died when she was five and Hiroaki had taken her in and raised her—raised her in that big stone fortress-house of his without the companionship of women. When a washerwoman had stopped Mimi from playing with a sharp, long-handled ax for fear she would cut her toes off, Hiroaki had dismissed the woman.

"Hiro told us more than we wanted to know about his time _there_," Mimi continued. Sora knew the "we" referred to Ken, Mimi's half-brother, and Tai, who had been raised with them.

"Mimi," Sora said sharply, "are you going to eat that fish or not? If so, hurry up so you can help me decide what to take on the journey. Do you think Hiroaki's younger son will be wearing fancy silks? I heard he's no warrior. Will he look down on us Draconian women like those other outsiders did two years ago?"

Mimi's eyes gleamed. "Then we shall do to him what we did to them," she said with a mouth full of fish.

"You are wicked," Sora said, laughing. "We can't do _that_ to my future brother-in-law."

"I have no such compunction. We ought to make plans for what to do to protect ourselves from their snobbery. Of course all we have to do is lead this Yamato into a single battle and that will be the end of him. Or do you think he sits on velvet-cushioned chairs and drinks ale while watching the battle from afar?" Mimi stood and kicked dirt over the fire then pulled on her tap pants and laced her boots. "And Tai is to go with you?"

"Yes," Sora said, smiling. "You can bear to be without him for a few days. We ride out to meet this foreigner and escort him back. I think Hiroaki may be afraid of the Og'rilahs." The Og'rilahs were the fiercest tribe of Draconia. They were as devoted to battle as the Inkhearts were to books. The Og'rilahs attacked anyone at any time and what they did to captives was what gave grown warriors nightmares.

"No Mistheart is afraid of an Og'rilah," Mimi said angrily, coming to her feet.

"Yes, but this prince is foreign and he believes himself to be king of _all_ Draconia."

Mimi smiled in a nasty way. "Someone should let him walk up to Hiroki, the king of the Og'rilahs, and announce his kingship. That would be the end of our worries. At least Hiro's foreign son would be _buried_ on Draconian soil, and, I swear, we would bury every piece Hiroki hacked from him."

Sora laughed. "Come on, help me choose what to take. We will leave in another hour and you must say goodbye to Tai."

"That will take much longer than an hour," Mimi said seductively, making Sora laugh again.

"Perhaps I can borrow Tai's virility some lonely night after I am married to this limp foreigner."

"That will be the night you die," Mimi said calmly, then smiled. "Let's pray Hiro lives long enough to see this softling of his and sees the error of his ways and corrects it. Ken will be our king, as he should be. Come on, I'll race you to the walls."

---------------

(**A/N:** This story was supposed to be the very first that I work on after _Hearts and Daggers_, but it took me forever to get into writing it. Hopefully you guys like it. Please read and kindly review! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. And please, don't flame me if you don't like the story. Michi moments are dedicated to **PrincessJaded**.)


	2. Iori and the Og'rilah

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_(__**MUST READ A/N:**__ Okay, so here are a few things you readers should know before reading the story._

_**I've decided to take Kari out of the beginning of the story. I have new plans for her.**_

_TK seems soft and maybe gayish but that's because he was sickly as a child so he never got the opportunity to be trained and educated the way Matt had._

_Ryou is Akiyama Ryou from Digimon Tamers. Just in case because nobody really remembers Tamers._

_That's all I can think of for now. I'm gonna have an author's note addressing things that might be confusing in every chapter. If I missed anything, please feel free to ask.)_

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 2  
Iori and the Og'rilah**

Matt was stretched out on the western bank of the Dragon's Eye Lake, his arm behind his head and sleepily looking up into the trees. His chest was bare, sunlight and shadow playing on the muscles in his stomach and chest, glinting on the thick mat of dark gold hair. He wore only his short, baggy breeches and hose that stretched over heavy, muscular legs.

Outwardly, he looked to be calm but then he had had years of training in keeping his emotions hidden. His old tutor, Gennai, had never missed an opportunity to tell Matt he was only half Draconian and that the weak, crying foreign half had to be cut out, burned out, or removed in some other fashion. According to Gennai, Draconians were stronger than steel, more immovable than mountains, and Matt was only half a Draconian.

Absently, he felt the scar on the back of his thigh twitch, as it always did when he thought of Gennai, but he didn't scratch it. Draconians didn't show fear; Draconians thought of their country first; Draconians allowed no emotion to govern their thoughts and Draconians did not cry.

His tutor had pounded that into his head well enough. When, as a child, Matt's favorite dog, an animal that had comforted him many a lonely night, had died, Matt had cried, and the old tutor had been enraged. He had laid a red-hot poker across the back of Matt's thigh and warned the child that if he cried or so much as flinched, he'd receive a second branding.

Matt had never cried again.

Behind him he heard someone hurrying toward him. Instantly, he was alert and grabbed his sword, which lay by his hand.

"It's me," he heard Takeru say, and there was anger in his voice.

He reached for his tunic. In the distance, he could hear the Draconian warriors moving about, no doubt looking for him, afraid he might see a gnat and be frightened of it. He wiped the grimace from his face and looked up at his brother.

"No," Takeru said, "don't bother to dress. I've seen you naked before."

He sat on the ground not far from Matt and was silent for a moment, his knees bent, his forearms over his knees, and his slim body rigid with what could only be anger. He was heedless of the dampness of the earth seeping into his brocade breeches.

When he spoke, it was more of an eruption. "They are an _awful_ bunch!" he said furiously, his eyes fixed straight ahead. His jaw was set in rage. "They treat me as if I'm a stupid, spoiled, and lazy child who must be patronized at all times. They won't let me walk two steps without aid. As if I were an invalid! And that Ryou is the worst. He keeps giving me looks of contempt!"

He stopped when he heard Matt's soft chuckle and turned blazing blue eyes on him. "How _dare_ you laugh," he said through clenched teeth. "The way they treat us is your fault. Every time one of them offers you a pillow, you sigh and smile. And yesterday, holding Shin's bear! You have _never_ done that before, you were always too busy sharpening a sword or knife, but now you delight in pretending to be weak and soft. Why don't you cuff a few of them, especially that Ryou?"

Matt's smile softened his square jaw. He was classically handsome with his golden blond hair and deep blue eyes, and next to the Draconians he looked to be of another species of human. Where their eyes blazed, his twinkled. Where their jaws were gaunt and weathered, Matt's cheeks were pale and smooth.

Takeru was accustomed to seeing men smile at Matt, thinking they were about to joust with a beardless boy whose tall, big body was no doubt all fat. Takeru often laughed with glee when Matt unseated the smirking knight so easily. The men found out that Matt's face changed from softness to oak within seconds—and that big body of his was about two hundred pounds of solid muscle.

"And who are these Og'rilahs they fear so much? I thought they were Draconians too!" Takeru swatted Matt's arm. "Matt! Stop laughing! They're all insolent and arrogant people."

"Especially Ryou?" he asked in his deep voice, smiling at him.

His cheeks reddened as he looked away from him, his jaw working in anger. He felt emasculated around Ryou but he would never admit it. "You may laugh about them, but your men and your squire do not. Young Daisuke was sporting some nasty bruises this morning and I think he got them defending your name. You ought to—"

"I should what?" Matt asked softly, looking up at the trees overhead. He would not let Takeru see what he felt at the Draconians' treatment of him. These Draconians were his own people, but they treated him with great contempt and made it clear that he was not wanted. He could not let Takeru see that he was just as angry as he because Takeru needed his fire dampened, not inflamed. "I should fight one of them?" he asked teasingly. "Kill or maim one of my own men? Ryou is the captain of the King's Guard. What good would it do me to harm him?"

"You seem awfully sure you are capable of winning a fight with that strutting monster."

Matt wasn't sure he could win a fight at all. These Draconians were all like Gennai, so sure he was weak and useless that at times, he almost believed they were right.

"Would you _want_ me to win over Ryou?" Matt asked seriously.

"All right, maybe you shouldn't fight your own men but you must stop the way they're treating you. It's not respectful."

"I'm beginning to like a soft pillow offered whenever I sit down." Matt smiled toward the trees then turned serious. He knew he could confide in his brother. "I am listening to them," he said after a moment. "I sit quietly on the edge of a circle of men and listen to them."

Takeru was beginning to calm down. He should have known Matt had a reason for playing the fool. But he hated it. He and Matt, his son, three of Matt's knights, and his squire, Daisuke, had ridden away with the silent, dark-eyed Draconians.

That first day, he had felt good, as if his destiny had come at last. But the Draconians had made it clear that he and Matt were foreign, not Draconian, and they believed that outsiders were soft, useless people. They missed no opportunity to show their contempt for their burdens.

The first night, Takuya, one of Matt's three knights, had been about to draw his sword on a Draconian warrior when Matt stopped him.

Ryou, the tall, fierce-looking captain of the guard, asked Matt if he had ever held a sword before. Young Daisuke had nearly attacked the man, but Matt stopped the fight. Daisuke walked away in disgust when Matt asked Ryou to please show him his sword, as Matt had always wanted to see one at close view.

Until now, Takeru had hated Matt's act so much that he hadn't considered his brother had a reason for what he was doing—except that there were a hundred of the watching Draconians and only six of their men and a child. He should not have doubted his brother.

"What have you heard?" he asked softly.

"Gennai told me of the tribes of Draconia, but he didn't tell me or perhaps I assumed that they were more or less united." Matt was quiet for a moment. "It seems that I am to be king of the Misthearts only."

"Our father, Hiroaki, is Mistheart, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"And the Misthearts are the ruling class, so, therefore, you are king of all Draconians, whatever they call themselves."

Matt chuckled and wished life could be as simple as Takeru sometimes saw it. If he decided he loved a woman, he married her. He didn't worry about what would happen in the future if he were called to Draconia and he was bound to an outsider wife.

But for Matt, destiny and duty were everything. "That is the way the Misthearts see it, but I'm afraid the other tribes don't agree. Right now, we are only miles from the land the Og'rilahs claim as their own and the Misthearts are concerned and watchful. The Og'rilahs are reputed to be very fierce."

"You mean these Draconians are _afraid_ of them?" Takeru asked breathlessly.

"Og'rilahs are also Draconians, and these men with us, these Misthearts, are more cautious than afraid."

"But if the _Misthearts_ fear them…"

Matt understood his meaning and smiled. These tall, scowling, scarred, humorless Misthearts didn't seem to fear anything on this earth. No doubt the devil didn't risk tempting a Draconian. "I have yet to see these Draconians do anything but swagger and talk about war. I haven't seen one in battle."

"Yes, but grandfather said they fought like demons, like no man ever had."

"Michel is a soft, lazy man. No! Don't protest, I love him too, but love doesn't keep me from seeing him clearly. His men are fat and spend their time fighting among themselves."

"Not to mention his sons," Takeru said under his breath.

"Would you rather be with Michel's four idiots or here in this beautiful land of ours?"

Takeru looked at the wide, deep, rapidly flowing water. "I like the country but not the people. This morning a Draconian told me to turn away while he skinned a rabbit because he said he feared for my health at the sight. Argh! Remember the boar I shot last year? Who does he think I am?"

"A soft foreigner. What do you suppose their women are like?" Matt asked.

"These men are the type who lock their women away in a cellar and bring them out twice a year, once to impregnate them, once to take the child."

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me."

"What?" Takeru gasped.

"If the women look like the men, they _should_ be locked away."

"You're right." Takeru laughed. "I bet I heard something you didn't. Our father has chosen a bride for you. Her name is Sora and she is the captain of something called the Women's Guard. She is a female knight." He was pleased to see Matt's smile vanish; he had his attention now. "From what I can find out, she is as tall as you are and spends her days learning to use a sword. I believe she even has her own armor." He chuckled at Matt. "Do you think her bridal veil will be chain mail?"

Matt's face had changed from soft, smiling boyishness to one of cold steel. "No," was the one word he uttered.

"No, what?" Takeru asked innocently. "No chain mail?"

"I didn't choose to be king, it was given to me before birth, but I have dedicated my life to it. I will marry a Draconian woman—I had planned that—but I will marry no bull of a woman. There are some sacrifices a man can't make for his country. I will marry a woman I can love."

"I imagine the Draconians would consider that a soft attitude. They marry but I can't imagine one of them in love. Can you see Ryou with his scarred forehead offering a bouquet of flowers to a woman?"

Matt didn't answer. He was thinking of all the lovely women he could have married but didn't. No one, not even Takeru, knew of the pain, both physical and mental, that Matt had suffered through Gennai as that old man tried to beat the foreign half of Matt out of him.

The old man seemed able to read Matt's mind. If the boy had a doubt about himself, Gennai sensed it and worked to drive it away. Outwardly, Matt had learned never to allow anyone to see his fear or see that he sometimes believed he was not the right one to rule Draconia.

But after years of Gennai's training, Matt honestly believed he could now laugh in the face of death. What he felt inside would _never_ show to anyone.

But through all the years with Gennai, he had kept a dream of someday being able to share himself with a woman, someone soft and gentle, someone loving, someone whom he could _trust_.

Every year, Gennai had sent a letter to Matt's father listing Matt's every fault and telling Hiroaki he had doubts that the boy would ever be fully Draconian. Gennai had complained of Matt being like his mother, and that he wanted to spend too much time in his younger brother's gentle company.

Silently, Matt had fought old Gennai on this. He trained all day, endured whatever the man could devise in the way of torture, but he also learned to play the lute, and sing a few songs. And he found he needed Takeru's softness. Perhaps he never would be wholly Draconian, for he imagined his home life being like what he shared with Takeru.

As they were growing up, they had grown close as they clung to each other against Michel's stupid, cruel sons. Matt used to hold little Takeru as he cried after the fat boys had taunted him with sticks for an hour, scratching his face and tearing his clothes. Matt calmed him by telling him stories of Draconia.

As they grew older they learned to stay close to one another for the physical protection of Takeru, and Matt had grown to love Takeru's soft ways.

After a day on the training field when Gennai had once again tried to kill him, Matt would ease his tired, sore body to the foot of Takeru's bed and Takeru would tell him a story or make jokes. The only time he had allowed his emotions to show since he was a child was when Takeru said he planned to marry and leave him.

He had been miserably lonely the two years he was away when he was married, but he had returned with Shin. Sometimes, when Matt imagined a wife, he knew he wanted her to be soft and sweet like his mother and lighthearted like Takeru. She would have a woman's anger over minor jealousies and squabbles.

He did _not_ want some female Draconian warrior.

"There are some privileges a king has, and one is to marry whomever he wants," he said with finality.

Takeru frowned. "Matt, that's not true at all. Kings marry to form alliances with other countries."

He started to rise, quickly pulling on his clothes in a way that let Takeru know that was the end of the matter. "I will make an alliance if I must. I heard Daisuke has a sister so I'll ask his father for one of his daughters, but I will not marry some witch who wears armor. Come on, let's go. I'm hungry."

Takeru wished he had never brought the subject up. As much as he felt he knew his brother, there were times when he felt he knew nothing about him at all. There was a part of him that remained secret. He followed Matt. "Will you teach me to fight with a sword?" He hoped to get his brother's mind to a different subject and so bring back his good mood.

Matt chuckled. "You were always so gentle when we were young. That's why Gennai never asked for you."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm completely emasculated by you all." Takeru snorted.

Matt was smirking knowingly again but at least he wasn't angry anymore.

They had not reached camp yet before Ryou met them. He was six feet four inches tall, broad-shouldered, with a body as strong and lean as a rawhide whip. His brown hair spiked up in one direction, with dark brows, deep-set dark blue eyes, and a chin that was square and rigid. A deep x-shaped scar on his forehead was emphasized by the scowl he now wore.

"We have visitors. We have been searching for you," Ryou said in a harsh tone. He wore a belted bearskin over a short-skirted tunic that left his muscular legs bare.

Takeru frowned and was about to reply to Ryou's insolence to his king but Matt stepped forward.

Matt didn't explain his absence from camp even though Ryou had told him he was not to leave the sight of the Draconians who were to protect him. "Who has come?" Matt asked. He was a couple of inches shorter than Ryou but younger and thicker.

"Hiroaki has sent Sora, Tai, and his sister with another hundred men."

"Sora?" Takeru asked. "Is this the woman Matt is to marry?"

Ryou gave him a sharp look, as if to tell him to mind his own business.

Takeru glared back at him in defiance.

"Shall we ride to meet them?" Matt asked, a slight frown on his handsome face.

His horse was saddled and waiting for him and, as always, he was surrounded by fifty Draconians, rather like a child who needs constant protection. They rode northwest, toward the mountains, where, in the setting sun, he could see the outline of many troops. As they drew closer together, he braced himself to meet this woman who had been given the equivalent of knighthood.

He saw her from a long way off. There was no mistaking her form for that of a man: tall, slim, erect, high firm breasts, a three-inch-wide belt around her narrow waist, curving hips below.

He kicked his horse forward, ignoring the protests of the men around him, and went forward to meet her. When he saw her face, he smiled. She was quite lovely with her dark amber eyes and deep red lips.

"My lady, I welcome you," he said, and smiled at her. "I am Yamato, humble prince of your magnificent country."

Around him the Draconians were silent. This was no way for a man to act, especially not a man destined to be king. They looked at the setting sun glinting off his blond hair and they knew that everything they had feared about this man was true: he was a stupid foreign softling.

At the first laugh behind Sora, she urged her horse forward and held out her hand to touch Matt's in greeting. She, too, was disappointed. He was good-looking enough but the silly grin he wore made her agree with her men's opinion of him.

Matt held Sora's hand for a moment and saw her thoughts in her dark eyes. Around him he could feel the superior attitude of the Draconians and his anger almost came to the surface. Whether it was anger at himself or the Draconians he didn't know. The scar on his leg twitched and his smile faded.

Matt dropped Sora's hand with his smile. It was one thing to look the idiot before men, but before this magnificent creature who was to be his wife…

Matt reined his horse around. "We return to camp," he ordered, not looking at anyone. He knew his own three knights were the first to obey him.

Suddenly a shout went up and the Draconians circled Matt and his three men protectively.

"You are too close to Og'rilahs," Matt heard a man say. He was a young serious-looking man, riding next to Sora, and now he was berating Ryou. This must be Tai, Matt thought.

Even though the Draconians tried to halt him, Matt urged his horse to the front of the group to see what had caused the alarm.

On a hill, silhouetted by the dying sun, were three men.

"Og'rilah," Ryou said to Matt as if that explained everything. "We will take you back to camp. Tai! Choose fifty men and prepare to fight."

Matt's temper that he had suppressed for days could no longer be contained. "Like hell you will!" he said to Ryou. "You will not harm my men and, make no mistake, the Og'rilahs are mine as much as the Misthearts are. I will greet these men. Takuya! Kouji! Kouichi!" he called to his three knights.

Never had any men so readily obeyed an order, for they were sick of the Draconians' treatment of them. They arrogantly shoved their way through the Draconians to stand behind Matt.

"Stop the fool," Tai said to Ryou. "Hiro will never forgive us if he's killed."

Matt turned deadly eyes to Tai. "You follow _my_ orders," he said, and Tai stopped speaking.

Ryou was looking at Matt with some interest, but he was older than Tai and less easily intimidated. When he spoke, his voice held great patience. "They are Og'rilah and do not recognize a Mistheart king. They believe Hiroki is their king and they would delight in killing you."

"I don't please people so easily. We ride," he said over his shoulder to his own men.

Behind him, Ryou stopped the Misthearts from following Matt. "It is better that the fool is killed now before Hiroaki makes him king," he said. The Draconians watched with impassive faces as the prince they disliked so much rode toward certain death.

The three Og'rilahs on the hill stood still as Matt and his knights approached. He could see, as he drew closer, that they were young men out hunting and no doubt startled at the sight of so many Misthearts where they shouldn't be.

Matt's anger was still pounding in his ears. Always, he had been taught that he was to be king of the Draconians, and here the Misthearts were trying to kill the Og'rilahs.

Matt motioned for his knights to remain behind as he rode forward to greet the three young men alone. He halted about a hundred yards from the young hunters. "I am Prince Yamato, son of Hiroaki," he called, "and I offer you greetings and peace."

The three young men still sat motionless on their horses, obviously fascinated by this lone blond man, such an oddity in this country, riding toward them on his tall, beautiful roan horse. The middle Og'rilah, little more than a boy, was the first to recover his senses. With a movement like lightning, he drew his bow and an arrow and shot at Matt.

Matt swerved to the right only just before the arrow reached him and he felt it graze his left arm. He cursed under his breath and spurred his horse to a swift gallop. He had had more than he could bear from these Draconians. Contempt and laughter were one thing, but being shot at by a boy after he'd offered peace was the last insult he could tolerate.

He reached the boy in seconds and, while still galloping, pulled him from his horse and flung him to the ground. Matt was off his horse instantly, holding the fighting boy to the ground with the weight of his big body. Behind him he could hear the thunder of the hooves of two hundred approaching Draconian horses.

"Get out of here!" he bellowed to the two boys still on their horses.

"We cannot," one said, looking in horror at the boy Matt was pinning to the ground, his voice little more than a whisper. "He is our king's son."

"_I_ am your king," Matt bellowed, all of his anger behind his voice. He looked up to see his own knights approaching. "Get them out of here," he ordered, motioning toward the two Og'rilah boys. "Ryou will tear them apart."

Matt's knights charged the two young men and sent them racing.

Matt looked down at the boy he held. He was a handsome youth, about seventeen and as mad as a cat in water.

"You are not my king," the boy screeched. "My father, the great Hiroki, is king." He spat a mouthful of saliva in Matt's face.

Matt wiped his face then slapped the boy in an insulting way, like a man might slap a woman whose quick tongue was more than he could bear. He jerked him upright. "You'll come with me."

"I'll die before—"

Matt turned the boy to face the approaching Mistheart troops, who were now very close. They were a formidable sight of muscled men, muscled horses, and weapons gleaming in the sunlight. "They will kill you if you try to run."

"No Og'rilah fears a Mistheart," he said, but his face had lost all color.

"There are times when a man uses his brain instead of his right arm. Act like a man now. Make your father proud." He released his hold on the boy, and after a moment's hesitation, the boy stood where he was. Matt could only hope the boy had sense enough not to do something stupid. No doubt the Misthearts would take great pleasure in killing this Og'rilah boy.

The Draconians surrounded Matt and the boy, their horses sweaty, nostrils open, the men with their dark brows drawn together, weapons at the ready. They were enough to make Matt want to turn tail and run.

"Good," Ryou said, "you have a captive. We will execute him now for trying to kill a Mistheart."

Matt was proud that the boy didn't waver or show any signs of cowardice at Ryou's autocratic words. Matt's anger, momentarily exorcised by his tussle with the boy, came to the surface again. Now was the time to establish his right to rule. He pushed his anger down and looked up at Ryou. "I have a _guest_," he said pointedly. "This is Hiroki's son and he has agreed to travel with us and to direct us through his father's land."

Ryou snorted as loudly as his horse. "It was this _guest_ who shot you?"

Matt was aware of the blood streaming down his arm but he would not back down now. "I cut myself on a rock," he said, his eyes challenging Ryou's.

Sora urged her horse forward, placing herself between the two men. "We welcome a guest, even though he be Og'rilah," she said as if she were welcoming a poisonous snake into her bed.

Her eyes were on Matt, watching him as he glared up at the formidable Ryou. Not many men dared challenge Ryou and she would never have believed this soft blond foreign man would do so. But she had watched him ride against the Og'rilah, rather amazingly dodge an arrow, leap from his horse onto the boy, and now the Og'rilah boy stood close to him as if this blond man could stay the hands of the Misthearts. And now this Matt was daring Ryou in a way she had never seen before. Perhaps this man was a fool but perhaps there was more to him than they thought.

Matt's knight Kouichi held the reins to Matt's horse. Matt mounted then offered his hand to the boy to mount behind him. As Matt turned his horse to start back to the camp, he asked, "What is your name?"

"Iori," the boy said proudly, but there was a catch in his throat, betraying his fear at his narrow brush with death. "Son of the Og'rilah king."

"I think we'd better give your father another title. _I_ am the only king of this country."

The boy laughed in a derogatory way. "My father will destroy you. No Mistheart will ever rule an Og'rilah."

"We shall see, but for tonight, maybe you'd better consider me Og'rilah and stay near me. I'm not sure my other Draconians are as forgiving as I am."

Behind them rode Matt's knights and then the cluster of Draconians, Tai, Sora, and Ryou in front.

"Is he always such a fool?" Tai asked Ryou, looking at the back of this man who was supposed to be a Mistheart but who treated the Og'rilah boy as a friend. "How have you kept him alive?" he asked in wonder.

Ryou was looking at Matt and the boy thoughtfully. "Until tonight he has been as tame as a pet dog. His younger brother has shown more fire than he has."

"If he continues riding alone against the Og'rilahs, he will not live long," Tai said. "We shouldn't try to prevent him from whatever foolishness he wishes to try. Judging by what he did today, he will open the gates of Drakengard to any invader. Draconia could fall under a ruler as stupid as he is. No, we will not try to prevent his riding alone against the enemy. We'll be well rid of him. Ken will be our king."

"_Is_ he stupid?" Sora asked. "If we had attacked those boys and killed Hiroki's son, we wouldn't know peace until Hiroki had killed hundreds of our people. And now we have an important hostage. Hiroki cannot attack us for fear of killing his son. And you say this Yamato has not, in weeks of travel, let you know he speaks the way we do? Come, Ryou, I am surprised at you. What else does the man know about us that you don't know about him?" She urged her horse forward to ride beside Matt.

All evening Sora watched Matt, his brother, his nephew, and his men, encircled by darkness around a fire in front of Matt's beautiful silk tent. The Og'rilah boy, Iori, sat near them, quiet, sullen, watchful. Sora imagined that Matt's ways were as strange to him as they were to the Misthearts. Matt held his young nephew on his lap and whispered things that made the boy laugh and squeal. No Draconian child of that age would be held by his father. By four the boys were already being taught to use weapons and so were the girls who had been chosen for the Women's Guard.

Sora watched the way Matt smiled at his brother, and wondered what it would be like to live with this man of contradictions, who rode alone against the enemy and two hours later, cuddled a child. How could such a man be a fighter? How could he be king?

Early the next morning, before the sun was up, the alarm horns were blown by the guardsmen standing watch. Instantly, the Draconians were out of their light sleeping blankets and on their feet.

Matt came out of his tent wearing only his loincloth, giving the Draconians their first sight of the body of the man they had thought soft. Muscle like Matt's had been created by hard, heavy work.

"What is it?" he yelled at Ryou.

"Og'rilah," was Ryou's terse answer. "Hiroki comes to fight for his son. We will meet him." He was already mounting his horse.

Matt grabbed Ryou's shoulder and pulled him about. "We don't attack because of what you believe to be true. Iori!" he yelled past Ryou. "Prepare to ride to meet your father."

Ryou gave Matt a cold look. "It's your life you lose."

Matt choked back words of anger and gave a look of warning to Takuya, who took a step toward Ryou. He had expected them to doubt him, but they didn't merely doubt; they were _sure_ he was useless.

Within minutes he was dressed. He didn't dress in chain mail as for battle but in embroidered velvet as if for a social event. Matt grimaced when the Draconians smiled at the stupidity of this foreigner and Iori shook his head in wonder. At the moment, Iori wished he had been killed yesterday, as death was preferable to facing his father.

Sora watched from a distance, saw the anger quickly cross Matt's face then disappear. If she were to marry this man, it might be good to ally herself with him now. And, besides, she was very interested in how he planned to deal with an old, treacherous man like Hiroki.

"May I ride with you?" Sora asked Matt.

"No!" Tai and Ryou yelled in unison.

Matt looked at them, his eyes as cold as steel. "They can spare the life of a foreign prince but not one of their own," he said, the bitterness he felt showing in his voice.

Sora held a tall spear, a bow, and a quiver of arrows flung to her back. "I am a guard; I make my own decisions."

Matt grinned at her and Sora found herself blinking as if against too bright a sun. By the gods above, the man was handsome! "Get your horse then," he said, and Sora hurried to her horse like a novice anxious to please her teachers.

Matt looked after her. Gennai hadn't told him of the intelligence and generosity of the Draconian women.

The other Draconians were not affected by Matt's personal appearance and sat on their horses in a long line, watching silently as Matt, Sora, the three knights, and Iori rode to meet two hundred Og'rilah warriors and certain death.

"Straighten your spine, boy," Matt said to Iori. "It's not as if you were facing the wrath of your king."

"My father _is_ king," Iori shot back, his face almost as pale as Matt's.

A hundred yards from the Og'rilahs, who sat still and waited for the approach of the small band, Matt rode forth alone. Sun hit the gold embroidery of his tunic, flashed off his golden hair, winked in the diamond in his sword hilt, played along the trappings of his horse. The Draconians, neither Mistheart nor Og'rilah, had never seen anything like this richly dressed man. He was as different looking from them as possible, a rose amid a field of sand burrs. They gaped at him in wonder.

After a moment's hesitation, a big man rode toward Matt. His face was scarred, one deep gouge running from his left eye down to his neck, and half of one ear was gone. There were more scars on his legs and arms. He looked as if he had never smiled in his life.

"Are you the foreigner who took my son?" he asked in a voice that made Matt's horse dance about. The animal recognized danger.

Matt smiled at the man, successfully covering the fact that his heart was pounding in his ears. He doubted if any amount of combat training could prepare one to fight with such a man as this. "I am Draconian, King Hiroaki's successor. I am to be king of all the Draconians," he said with an amazing amount of firmness in his voice.

For a moment, the older man's mouth dropped open, then he closed it again. "I will kill a hundred men for each hair that is harmed on my son's head."

Matt yelled over his shoulder. "Iori! Come forward."

Hiroki looked his son up and down, grunted satisfaction that he was unharmed, then told him to join the Og'rilahs on the hill.

"No!" Matt said sharply. His hand dropped to his knee, so that it was inches from his sword hilt. Whatever fear he felt, he couldn't let it show and he couldn't let this man have Iori. Fate had delivered the boy into his hands and Matt meant to keep him. He wasn't going to let this small chance at peace escape him. "I'm afraid I can't allow that. Iori stays with me."

Once again, Hiroki's mouth dropped open but he recovered himself quickly. This man's words and attitude didn't match his handsome, unscarred, pale-skinned face. "We will fight for him," he said, reaching for his sword.

"I'd as soon not," Matt said pleasantly, and hoped no one saw the greenish tinge his skin was taking, "but I will if necessary. I want to keep Iori with me because I believe he is your successor."

Hiroki gave a quick look to Iori. "He is if one so stupid can be allowed to rule."

"He's not stupid, merely young and hot-blooded and a very poor shot. I'd like to keep him with me, to show him that we Misthearts are not demons, and perhaps someday there can be peace between our people." Matt's eyes twinkled. "And I would like to teach him to shoot straight."

Hiroki looked at Matt for a long time and Matt knew the hideous old man was deciding on life or death for his son and this foreigner. Matt didn't believe a man such as Hiroki would be moved by such a weak emotion as love for his son. "Old Hiroaki didn't raise you," he said at last. "He would've killed my son by now. What guarantee do I have for his safety?"

"My word," Matt said solemnly. "I will give you my life if he is harmed by a Mistheart." Matt was holding his breath.

"You're asking for a great deal of trust," Hiroki said. "If he's harmed, I will kill you so slowly you will pray for death."

Matt nodded.

Hiroki didn't speak for a while as he studied Matt. There was something different about this man—different from any Draconian. And even though he was dressed more gaudily than any woman, Hiroki sensed that there was more to him than first appeared. Suddenly, Hiroki felt old and tired. He had seen son after son killed; he had lost three wives in battle. All he had left was this young boy.

Hiroki turned to look at his son. "Go with this man. Learn from him." He turned back to Matt. "Three years. Send him home three years from today or I will burn your city to the ground." He reined his horse away and went back to his men on the hill.

Iori turned to Matt with eyes wide in wonder, but he didn't say anything.

"Come on, boy, let's go home," Matt said at last, releasing his breath and feeling as if he'd just escaped death of a most vile nature. "Stay close to me until people get used to seeing you. I don't like the idea of being tortured."

As Matt and the boy rode past Sora, Matt nodded at her and she followed them. She was beyond speech. This foreigner, who dressed in clothes as pretty as a courting bird's feathers, had just won a verbal battle with old Hiroki. "'I'd as soon not,'" he'd said when challenged to fight, yet Sora had seen the way he kept his hand near his sword. And the way he'd told Hiroki that the Misthearts would keep the Og'rilah boy. He hadn't flinched a muscle, hadn't registered any fear.

She rode back to the others and still couldn't speak. This Matt not only looked different, he _was_ different. Either he was the biggest fool ever made or the bravest man on earth. She hoped for Draconia's sake and—she smiled—for her future life as his wife that it was the latter.

---------------

(**A/N:** Okay so this was a long boring chapter. But important. Next chapter finally shows some nice interaction between Matt and Mimi. Please kindly review! And major thanks to **PrincessJaded** for the awesome beta!)


	3. Drakengard and Susanoo's Gate

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_(__**MUST READ A/N:**__ Okay, so here are a few things you readers should know before reading the story._

_Susanoo is a Shinto deity, brother of Amaterasu (goddess of the sun) and Tsukuyomi (god of the moon)._

_I think that's all. If I missed anything, please feel free to ask so I may add it in here.)_

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 3  
Drakengard and Susanoo's Gate**

Mimi stayed motionless, her bow drawn back, ready to fire as she waited for the buck to turn toward her. The dark green of her tunic and short skirt pant concealed her from the animal. The instant the animal turned, she shot and it fell down gracefully and soundlessly.

Out of the trees, seven young women came running from their hiding places. They were all tall, slim, and each wore her dark hair in a thick braid down her strong back. They wore the green hunting tunic and tap pants of the Women's Guard.

"Good shot, Mimi," one woman said.

"Yes," Mimi said distractedly, looking about the forest while the women began to skin and gut the buck. She was restless this evening, feeling as if something were about to happen.

It had been four days since Sora and Tai had left and Mimi missed her friend very much. She missed Sora's quiet humor, her intelligence, and she missed having someone to confide in. She also missed Tai. She and Tai had grown up together and she was used to his being around.

She rubbed her bare arms beneath the short sleeves of her tunic. "I'm going swimming," she murmured to the women behind her.

One woman paused in her cutting of a haunch of meat. "Do you want someone to go with you? We are far from the city walls."

Mimi didn't turn around. These were trainee guards, none of them over sixteen years old and, by comparison, she felt old and lonely. "No, I'll go alone," she said, and moved through the forest toward the stream.

She walked farther than she meant to, wanting to rid herself of the feeling she had of impending… what? Not danger, but somewhat like the air felt before a storm broke.

There had been only one communication from the army that was bringing Matt to the Mistheart capital city, Drakengard, and his dying father. Old Hiroaki was keeping himself alive by sheer willpower as he waited to see what kind of man his son had grown to be.

So far, judging from what had been reported, Matt was proving to be a fool. He involved himself in village disputes; he single-handedly challenged the Og'rilahs while Ryou and Tai had to protect him. Matt was said to be a soft weakling who knew more about velvet than he did about a sword.

The word had spread rapidly throughout Drakengard and already there were murmurings of uprisings and revolts in protest against this stupid foreigner who wasn't fit to rule. Ken, Tai, and Sora would have to use all their powers to keep this oaf from destroying the tentative peace of the Draconian nation.

In a secluded glade, Mimi removed her clothing and slipped into the water. Perhaps a long swim would ease her troubled mind.

---------------

Matt rode as hard and fast as his horse would go. He needed to get away, to be alone, and to escape the censoring eyes of the Draconians. Two days ago they had ridden past a peasant's hut that was blazing. When Matt halted the army of Draconians and ordered them to put the fire out, they had merely stared at him in contempt. They had sat on their horses and watched while Matt and his men had directed the peasants in dousing the flames.

When the fire was out, the peasants had told a garbled story of a feud between two families. Matt had told them to come to Drakengard and he would hear their case and he the king would personally judge it. The peasants had laughed at the idea of a king. The king ruled the soldiers who trampled their fields; he didn't rule the workingman.

Matt rode back to the Draconians, who looked at him with contempt for having involved himself with the petty disputes of the farmers.

But Matt knew that if he was to be king and there was to be peace between the tribes, he must be king of all the Draconians, the Og'rilahs, the Shatterhearts, the Blackhearts, all the tribes and all their people, from the lowest peasant to Hiroki, who ruled hundreds of men.

Today, Matt had had enough of the silent hostility and sometimes not so silent hostility of the Draconians and he had broken away, telling his own knights to keep the Draconians away. Their eyes reflected every fear he had stowed within himself. Their obvious doubts of him made his own doubts come closer to the surface. He needed to be alone, to have some time to think, and to pray.

He knew he was only miles from the walls of Drakengard when he came to a river tributary, a peaceful, lovely stream, so unlike everything else he had experienced in Draconia.

He dismounted and tied his horse, then fell to his knees, his hands folded in prayer.

"Oh God," he prayed in a choked whisper that betrayed the depth of his pain, "I have tried to ready myself for the duty that You and my earthly father have placed upon my head, but I'm only one man. If I am to accomplish what I know to be right, I need Your help. The people are against me and I don't know how to win their loyalty. I beg You, dear God, please show me the way. Guide me. Direct me. I place myself in Your hands. If I'm wrong, let me know. Give me a sign. If I'm right, then I plead for Your help."

He hung his head for a moment, feeling spent and exhausted. He had come to Draconia knowing what he was to do, but with each passing day his confidence had been draining. Every hour of every day he had to prove himself as a man to these people. They had made up their minds about him and nothing he did changed their opinions. If he was brave, they murmured that fools are often brave. If he cared about his people, they said his ways were foreign. What did he have to do to prove himself? Torture and kill some innocent Og'rilah boy who they seemed to think was the devil incarnate?

He stood, his legs shaky from the emotion he had exerted, then cared for his horse. He removed his sweaty clothes then stepped into the cool, clear water. He dove, he swam, he let the water take some of the anger and feelings of helplessness out of his body, and an hour later when he returned to the bank he felt better.

He put on his loincloth, then all at once, his senses came alive. He had heard a noise to his right. It sounded like a person moving about. He pulled his sword from the saddle scabbard and silently crept along the edge of the water toward the noise.

He wasn't prepared for the blow that hit him. Someone swung from a tree branch above his head, feet slammed into Matt's shoulders, and caught off balance, he fell to the ground. Instantly, he felt a steel point at his throat.

"Don't," said a woman's voice.

Matt had been reaching for his fallen sword, but as he looked up, he forgot about his sword. Straddling him, her legs bare to mid-thigh, was the most beautiful female Matt had ever seen in his life.

His grandfather's men had always teased Matt that he lived like a monk. They laughed because he had no desire to screw a peasant girl in a haystack. He had had a few sexual encounters, but no woman had ever inflamed his senses so that he desired her above all else in life. If sex was offered and the girl was clean, he took it if he had nothing else to do.

Until now.

As Matt looked up at this woman, up past plump high breasts, up to her face with dark golden eyes that burned as hot as embers, he felt as if his body were on fire. Every pore in his skin was alive, awake as it had never been before. He could feel her, smell her. It was as if the warmth from her body were merging with his and becoming one.

His hands moved to touch her ankles, clasped them, and his eyes followed his hands as he drank of the beauty of her long, lean, muscular legs. The sword point at his throat fell away but he wasn't aware of it. He saw and felt only his touch of those magnificent legs, his hands traveling higher, caressing, and kneading her creamy, beautiful, smooth flesh.

He thought he heard her groan but he wasn't sure it wasn't the sound of his own heart melting in ecstasy.

As his hands traveled upward as far as they could reach, her knees began to bend in a slow way, like a wax candle melting when placed too near a blazing fire. His hands moved up and up, lifting the damp tunic she wore. She had on nothing beneath and he saw the precious jewel of her as his hands moved up to clasp the high firm cheeks of her buttocks.

She sank to his chest, and when her bare flesh touched his, Matt quivered with desire. Her skin was as hot as his, like red-hot iron in the smithy's forge. His hands moved up her back and pulled her forward.

Her face was near his, her eyes half closed with desire, her lips red and full and open to receive him, her skin pale and perfect. He pulled her face to his.

At the first touch of their lips, she sprang away from him and looked at him. She seemed to feel the same surprise that he did. But the next moment, his surprise was gone as she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the passion he felt. His arms tightened about her so hard, it was a wonder her ribs didn't break. He pushed her to her back, never breaking contact with her lips as he kissed her violently, deeply, with years of desire that had been waiting for this one woman and this one moment.

Her legs went about his waist as he rolled over with her and his loincloth came off of its own accord.

"Mimi," someone called.

He ate at her lips, gnawing them, trying to get more and more of her. He nestled his hard body into the woman's saddle of her.

"Mimi, are you all right?"

The woman beneath Matt was beating on his bare back with her fists, but he was too stupid with desire to feel pain.

"They will see us," she whispered urgently with a shaky voice that went up and down in pitch. "Release me."

If a horse had run over him, he wouldn't have felt it. His hand searched for and found her breast.

"Mimi!" The voice was closer.

Mimi grabbed a rock and brought it down on the man's head. She didn't mean to hit him so hard, only to get his attention, but he collapsed senseless on her body.

She could hear the guardswomen coming closer now. With urgency and a great deal of regret, she pushed the man off of her. For a moment she looked down at his magnificent body. Never had she seen a more perfect man, muscular yet lean, thick but not heavy, with a face like an angel.

She ran her hand over his body, down his thick thighs and back up to his face. She leaned in and kissed his lips.

"Mimi! Where are you?"

She cursed the stupid trainees who had interrupted her, then stood so they could see her. The tall grasses hid the man at her feet. "I am here," she called. "No, don't come any closer, the mud is deep here. Wait for me at the path."

"It's growing dark, Mimi," one who was little more than a girl said.

"Yes, I can see that," Mimi snapped. "Go on. I won't be but a moment." Impatiently, she watched the women go out of sight then knelt to the unconscious man.

Perhaps she should feel guilty about what she had almost done with this stranger, but she didn't. She touched his chest again. Who was he? He wasn't Og'rilah, nor was he Blackheart like Tai. Perhaps he was of the Frenzyhearts, the horsepeople who lived in the mountains and kept to themselves. But he was too large to be a Frenzyheart.

He was beginning to stir and Mimi knew she had to get away from him before he looked at her again with those hooded eyes that threatened her sanity.

She ran toward the bank, grabbed her clothing, and dressed as she ran toward the trainees. She could still feel his hands and lips on her body.

"Mimi, you look flushed," one of the girls said.

"Probably because Tai is returning soon," another one said slyly.

"Tai?" Mimi said as if she'd never heard the word before. "Oh, yes, Tai," she said quickly. Tai had never made her heart leap to her throat or made the muscles in her legs turn to fluid. "Yes, Tai," she said firmly.

The girls looked at one another knowingly. Mimi was getting old and losing her mind.

---------------

"Matt! Where have you been?" Takeru questioned sharply.

"I… I went swimming." He was dazed, befuddled. His head swam with images of the woman. He could feel her skin against his palms and he was sure his chest was still red where she had sat on him. He had been able to dress and saddle his horse only because he had done it so often before.

"Matt," Takeru said softly. "Are you all right?"

"Never better," he murmured. So this was lust, he thought. So this was the feeling that drove men to do things they wouldn't ordinarily do. If this woman had asked him to kill for her, to desert his country, to betray his men, he doubted if he would've hesitated.

Matt became aware that people were looking at him. He was leaning on the high, wide pommel of his saddle, his body relaxed, a half smile on his lips, and below him, the people were gaping at him.

He straightened, cleared his throat, then dismounted. "The ride refreshed me," he said in a dreamy-sounding voice. "Here, Daisuke, take my horse and give it extra feed." The dear animal led me to her, he thought as he caressed the horse's neck.

Daisuke moved close to his master. "They thought you couldn't take care of yourself for even a few hours," he whispered bitterly.

Matt patted Daisuke's shoulder. "I could take care of the world tonight, my boy." He turned away toward his tent and stopped near Tai. Tai was a tall, silent man whose face didn't show what he was thinking as Ryou's did. Somehow, Matt didn't feel as much contempt coming from Tai as from the others.

"Have you heard of a woman named Mimi?"

Tai hesitated before answering. "She is Hiroaki's daughter."

Matt's horror showed in his face. "My sister?" he choked out.

"Not by blood. The king adopted her as a child."

Matt nearly wept with relief. "But we aren't blood related?"

Tai was watching him. "Ken is your brother by blood. Mimi and he share a mother while you and Ken share a father."

"I see." All Matt cared about was that she wasn't a blood relative. "She is a guardswoman? Like Sora?"

Again, Tai hesitated. "Yes, although Mimi is younger."

Matt smiled. "She's the perfect age, whatever that is. Good night."

Matt didn't sleep much that night but lay awake in his tent, his hands behind his head, staring into the darkness and savoring every moment of his time with Mimi.

He would marry her, of course. He would make her his queen and together they would rule Draconia… or at least the Misthearts. Mimi would be the softness in his life to make up for the Draconians' lack of belief in him. Mimi would be the one he could share himself with. As God said, a helpmate for man. He had asked God for a sign and moments later Mimi was there.

Before dawn, he heard the first stirrings of camp and rose and dressed and went outside. The mountains were hazy in the distance and the air was crisp and cool. Draconia had never looked so beautiful to him.

Sora stopped near him. "Good morning. I'm going fishing. Perhaps you would join me?"

Matt looked at Sora for a long moment, and for the first time realized there might be a bit of a problem in his plans to marry Mimi. "Yes," he said. "I'll go."

They walked together into the forest toward a wide stream.

"We'll reach Drakengard today," Sora said.

Matt didn't answer. What if King Hiroaki insisted he marry Sora? What if, in order to be made king, he would have to marry Sora? Every punishment Gennai had devised for him rose to his throat. "May I kiss you?" he asked abruptly.

Sora turned startled eyes toward him and color rose to her cheeks.

"I mean, if we are to be married, I thought—"

He broke off because Sora put her hand to the back of his head and pressed her lips to his. It was a pleasant kiss but it didn't make Matt forget who he was or where he was, nor did it tempt him to sign a pact with the devil.

Gently, he broke away and smiled at her. He was sure now. Mimi was the one God had chosen for him. Companionably, they walked together to the stream, Matt with his thoughts on Mimi and unaware of Sora's happiness. She thought she had been kissed by the man she was to marry, and she was more than satisfied with the coming marriage.

It was a five-hour ride northwest to Drakengard. The roads were practically nonexistent and Matt vowed to set up a road maintenance system right away. The Draconians cursed the fourteen baggage wagons that Matt and Takeru had brought with them that carried their furniture and household goods. The Misthearts' one concession to comfort was their walled city, and when they traveled, they took only what could be carried on their horses. Matt had an idea they stole their food from the peasants as they traveled.

Drakengard lay on the banks of the Dragon's Eye Lake, naturally protected by a curve of the water on two sides and a steep hillside on another. A twelve-foot-high wall surrounded the two square miles of the city. Inside, Matt could see another wall, another rise of land, and on that, the sprawling stone castle that must be his father's house.

"We're almost home," Takeru said from his horse beside Matt. Little Shin sat in front of him, his little face showing his weariness from weeks of travel. Takeru sighed. "Hot food, a hot bath, a soft bed… do you think they have musicians here? Do they dance?"

Matt didn't have an answer for his brother as Gennai hadn't thought it was important to talk of the pleasures in Draconia. Besides, there was only one pleasure in Draconia that interested Matt and that was the beautiful, delicious Mimi, the most perfect of women, the most… he daydreamed all the way into the city.

Their procession into the city of Drakengard caused very little interest. It was a dirty place, filled with animals and men, and the sounds were deafening as iron hammers banged on steel, as horses were shod, as men yelled at each other. Takeru furrowed his eyebrows.

"Where are the women?" he shouted to Ryou over the noise.

"Not in the city. The city is for men."

"Do you have the women locked away somewhere?" he smirked at Ryou.

Tai turned to look at him with interest and mild surprise on his face.

"We dig pits in the side of the mountains and keep them there," Ryou said. "Once a week we throw them a wolf. If they can kill it, they can eat it."

Takeru swallowed, not knowing how much of the truth he was telling.

At the northwest corner of the walled city, in the most protected spot, rose the sprawling stone fortress of Hiroaki's house. It wasn't a castle as Matt knew a castle, but lower, longer, and more impenetrable.

Before the fortress was another stone wall, eight feet thick and twenty feet high. There was a rusty iron double gate, covered with vines, in the center of the wall, and to the left was a smaller gate, wide enough only to allow the passage of one horse at a time.

Ryou shouted an order and the Draconian troops began to form themselves into a single line and move toward this narrow gate.

"Wait," Matt called, "we'll have to use the wide gate to get the wagons through."

Ryou reined his horse to stand in front of Matt. His face showed that his patience was at an end. "The wagons can't go through. They'll have to be unloaded and what furniture that won't fit through the gate will have to be taken apart."

Matt ground his back teeth together. He was reaching his breaking point. Had these people no respect for a man who was to be their king? "You will order your men to open the double gate."

"This gate doesn't open," Ryou said contemptuously. "It hasn't been opened in a hundred years."

"Then it's time it _was_ opened," Matt bellowed at the insolent man. He turned in his saddle and saw four men carrying a twelve-foot-long log toward a carpenter's shop. "Daisuke!"

"Yes sir!" Daisuke answered happily. He loved disobeying the Draconians.

"Get that log and open the gate."

Matt's three knights were off their horses at once. They were eager to do anything the Draconians said shouldn't be done. They grabbed six of the brawniest workers and set them to using the log as a battering ram.

Matt sat stiff and straight on his horse and watched as the men rammed the rusty old gate again and again. It didn't budge. He didn't dare look at the smirking faces of the Draconians.

"The gate was welded shut and it doesn't open," Ryou said, and Matt could hear the smile of superiority in his voice.

Matt knew there was some sort of superstition attached to the gate but he thought he would die before he asked what it was. Right now, necessity outweighed any primitive superstition. "_I_ will open the gate," he said as he dismounted, not looking into the face of a single Draconian.

He had with him his war horse and those of his knights. They were huge, heavy animals, capable of pulling tons of weight. Since the ram didn't work, maybe he could throw chains around the gate and the horses could pull it down.

Crowds were gathering now as workers ceased their tasks and came to watch this foreign prince make a fool of himself. On the walls above them were more guardsmen looking down on the scene with great amusement. So this was Hiroaki's weakling brat who thought he could open Susanoo's Gate.

"Ryou," someone bellowed down, "is this our new king?"

The laughter was uproarious and it rang in Matt's ears as he walked toward the gate. Takeru was right. He should have challenged a couple of men to a fight the first day and showed them who was in charge.

He stood before the gate and looked at it. It looked to be ancient, covered with rust and thorny vines. He pulled away a vine, thorns tearing his hands and making his palms bleed, and studied the old lock. It was a solid piece of iron with no sign of a weak joint. As far as he could tell, the ram hadn't moved the lock.

"This blond outsider thinks _he_ can open the gate?" a man taunted.

"Didn't someone tell him that only a Draconian could open it?"

The crowd laughed derisively.

"I _am_ Draconian," Matt whispered, his eyes on the gate. "I am more Draconian than they will ever know. God, help me. I beg You. Help me."

He put his hands on the gate, both bloody palms touching the rusty surface, and leaned forward to get a closer look at the thick piece of iron holding the gate shut.

Beneath his palms, he felt the gates tremble.

"Open!" he whispered. "Open for your Draconian king."

Rust trickled down from the top, sprinkling his face and hair. "Yes!" he said, his eyes closed as he directed all of his energy into his palms. "I am your king. I command you to open."

"Look!" screamed someone behind him. "The gate moves!"

The crowd and the guards on the wall became quiet as the ancient gate began to creak. It seemed to shudder like something alive.

There was complete silence, even the animals were still, as the old iron lock fell at Matt's feet. He pushed the left gate back a couple of feet and the ancient hinges cried out in protest.

Matt turned to his own men. "Now bring the baggage wagons through," he said, and suddenly felt very, very tired.

But no one moved. Matt's men were looking at the Draconians and the Draconians, hundreds of them, both peasants and guardsmen, were staring at Matt with eyes filled with wonder.

"What's wrong now?" Matt bellowed up at Ryou. "I opened the gate for you, now _use_ it."

Still no one moved. Daisuke whispered, "What's wrong with them?"

Ryou, as if he were walking in his sleep, very slowly dismounted his horse. His movements amid the absolute stillness seemed dramatic and of great significance. Matt watched him, wondering what this man planned now to make his contempt known.

To Matt's utter astonishment, Ryou moved to stand in front of him, dropped to his knees, bowed his head, and said, "Long live Prince Yamato."

Matt looked over his head to Takeru, who still sat on her horse. Takeru looked as bewildered as Matt felt.

"Long live Prince Yamato," someone else said, then another, and soon the chant became a shout.

Kouji, Matt's most sensible knight, came forward. "Shall we get the wagons through, sire, before the fools decide you're a demon instead of a god?"

Matt laughed, but before he could answer, Ryou was on his feet, glaring at Kouji.

"He is _our_ prince," Ryou said, "our _Draconian_ prince. _We_ will take his wagons through." Ryou turned and started bellowing orders to the guardsmen and peasants alike.

Matt shrugged and mounted his horse as he smiled at Takeru. "It seems that opening a rusty old gate was the right thing to do. Shall we enter our kingdom, little brother?"

"That's _prince_ brother, if you don't mind," Takeru said, laughing.

Inside the walls, men and women of the guard stood quietly with their heads bowed as Matt and Takeru passed them. Matt searched each face, hoping for a sight of Mimi, but she was nowhere to be seen.

At the front of the old stone fortress, Matt held Shin as Takeru dismounted. "Shall we go to meet our father?" he asked, and Takeru nodded.

---------------

(**A/N:** This was a tad bit shorter than last chapter, thank god. My fingers hurt from typing. So how did you all like the small Mimato? Yes, it did kill me to add that Sorato bit, but hey, he didn't love it, he barely liked it so there's really no harm. Please let me know what you think of the chapter!)


	4. A Father's Last Will

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 4  
A Father's Last Will**

Mimi was the only person on the long training field. There were targets for lance and bow practice at either end, bare patches for wrestling practice, a foot-race course, and obstacles for jumping. Now, with one lone woman on the field, it looked enormous. The other guardswomen had rushed back to the city when a runner had come to say the new prince was approaching.

"Prince, ha!" Mimi muttered, and heaved her javelin at the target and hit it square in the middle. He was an outsider and he wanted to take her brother's rightful place on the throne. At least she was comforted by the knowledge that all Draconia agreed with her. For once, all the tribes were united in something: this foreigner was no king.

At a sound behind her, she whirled, her javelin aloft. The point stood ready at Tai's throat.

"Too late," he said, smiling. "I could have used a bow from the edge of the field. You shouldn't be here alone with no one standing guard."

"Tai, oh Tai," she cried, and flung her arms around his neck. "I have missed you very, very, very much." She wanted to touch him, hold him, kiss him—and rid herself of the memory of the man by the river. Last night she had awakened with her body drenched in sweat and all she could think of was that stranger, a man she had never seen before, a peasant for all she knew, some muscular woodcutter on his way home to his wife and brats. "Kiss me," she pleaded.

Tai kissed her, but it wasn't the same as the kiss of the man in the forest. She felt no burning desire, no uncontrollable lust. She opened her mouth under his and put her tongue in his mouth.

Tai drew back, a frown on his face. He was a handsome man with his chocolate brown eyes and high cheekbones, but he wasn't as handsome as the man in the woods, Mimi thought involuntarily.

"What's wrong?" Tai asked huskily.

Mimi dropped her arms and turned away to hide her red face, afraid he might read her thoughts. "I have missed you, that's all. Can't a woman greet her intended with enthusiasm?" Tai was silent for so long that she turned to look at him.

They had been reared together. Tai was of the Blackheart tribe, and on a raid led by Hiroaki, Tai's father had killed Mimi's father. Hiroaki had killed Tai's father, and the twelve- year-old boy had attacked Hiroaki with a rock and a broken lance. Hiroaki had slung the boy over his saddle and taken him back to Drakengard. Since Mimi's mother had died two weeks before, Hiroaki took in Mimi and his son, Ken, and supervised the education and training of all three children. Mimi, only five at the time, and feeling lost and lonely at the loss of both her parents in so short a time, had clung to the tall, silent Tai. As they grew up she never stopped clinging to him. But just because she spent most of her life near him didn't mean she could tell what he was thinking.

"Has he come?" she asked, wanting to make him stop looking at her as he had when she was six and had eaten some dried fruit of his then lied when he asked her if she knew who had stolen it.

"He has come," Tai said softly, still watching her.

"And did the people hiss at him? Did they let this usurper know what they thought of him? Did they—"

"He opened Susanoo's Gate."

Mimi let out a guffaw. "With how many horses? Hiro will not be pleased when he hears how his cowardly son—"

"He opened it with his palms."

Mimi stared at Tai.

"He wanted the gate open so he could get his wagons through, so he ordered his men to use a battering ram. It had no effect, so Prince Yamato put his palms against the gate and prayed for God to help him. The gate swung open."

Mimi could do nothing but gape. The legend was that when the true king of Draconia arrived the gate would open for him.

She recovered herself. "No one has tried to open that gate in years; it must be rusted through. No doubt the battering ram knocked it loose, and then when this man pushed on it, it opened. Surely everyone knew that."

"Ryou went on his knees before the prince."

"Ryou?" Mimi asked eyes wide. "Ryou? The one who laughs whenever the foreigner is mentioned? The same Ryou who sent back messages saying what a fool the man was?"

"He bowed his head and called him Prince. _All_ the guard and all the people who were there bowed before him."

Mimi looked away. "This will make it harder. The peasants are a superstitious lot, although I had hoped better of the guard. We will have to make them see that they were just a pair of rusty gates. Has Hiro been told?"

"Yes," Tai answered. "They are with him now."

"They?"

"Prince Yamato, his brother, and the brother's son."

Mimi toyed with her javelin and began to feel overwhelmed. It felt as if she were the only sane person left. Was all Draconia willing to throw away what it knew to be true merely because some rusty gate opened _after_ being hit with a battering ram? Surely at least Tai didn't believe in this usurper. "We must convince Hiro that Ken should be king. Tell me, are they _very_ foreign? Do they look and act foreign?"

Suddenly, as quick as a snake, Tai's arm shot out and grabbed the thick braid of Mimi's hair and wrapped it around his wrist and forced her face close to his.

"Tai!" she gasped. She had not been prepared for his movement. When she was with him, her guard was down; he had her complete trust.

"You are mine," he said throatily. "You have been mine since you were five years old. I'll share you with no one."

The light in his eyes frightened her. "What has happened?" she whispered. "What has this Yamato done?"

"Perhaps you can answer that better than I."

She recovered from her fear. She still held her javelin in her left hand and now she pushed the point against his ribs. "Release me or I'll put a hole in you."

As abruptly as he had grabbed her, he released her hair then smiled.

Mimi didn't smile back. "You will explain yourself."

Tai shrugged. "Can't a lover be jealous?"

"Jealous of whom?" Mimi asked angrily.

He didn't answer her and she didn't like the way his lips were smiling but his eyes were not. They had been together too many years, for he was able to read her thoughts. Somehow he had been able to see through that first kiss of hers, and her talk of the foreigner had not led him from the scent. She had betrayed herself in that kiss and let him know that something was wrong.

She smiled at him. "You have no reason to be jealous. Perhaps it's my anger that makes me—" she hesitated—"seek you out." She looked at him and silently pleaded with him to not press her further.

At last he, too, smiled. "Come," he said, "don't you want to meet your new prince?"

She breathed a sigh of relief that the tense moment was over and lifted her javelin again. "I'd as soon walk into the Shatterhearts' camp alone." That odd look returned to Tai's face, but this time she wasn't going to ask why. "Go on, go back to him," she said. "Hiro will want you. Everyone will be needed to bring this usurper his sweetmeats."

Tai stayed where he was. "I'm sure there will be feasting later."

Mimi threw her javelin hard and hit the target in the red center. "I don't think I'll be in the least hungry tonight. Go on, get out of here. I need to train."

Tai was frowning at her as if something puzzled him, and without another word he turned back toward the walled city.

Angrily, Mimi jerked her javelin from the straw-filled target. So much for a lover's return, she thought. She threw her arms around him and he pushed her away, yet a moment later he pulled her hair and told her he was jealous. Why didn't he _show_ his jealousy with a few kisses? Why hadn't he done something to erase the memory of the man by the river?

She threw her javelin again and again. She planned to spend the day in hard exercise so that tonight she would be too tired to remember that man's hands on her legs, or his lips on hers or— She uttered a curse and heaved the javelin and missed the target completely. "Men!" she said in anger. Tai stared at her, pulled her hair, and another man caressed her thighs, while a foreign usurper threatened all of Draconia. She threw her javelin again and this time hit the center perfectly.

---------------

Matt stood outside the door to his father's chamber and tried to brush some of the travel dust from his clothes. He had not been given time to change and make himself presentable. He had been told that Hiroaki insisted upon seeing him immediately, that he would wait for nothing.

Upon reflection, Matt doubted if his dusty clothes would matter much to Hiroaki after having seen the squalor of his house. Matt kicked a gnawed bone from under his feet, straightened his shoulders, and pushed the heavy oak door open.

The room was very dim and it took his eyes a moment to adjust. His father seemed content not to speak as he studied his son and thus allowed Matt time to look at his father.

Hiroaki lay on a pile of furs, long-haired, rough-looking furs that perfectly suited him, for he was a rough-looking man. He was extraordinarily tall, at least four inches taller than Matt, but unlike Matt, he was lean, without Matt's thickness. Perhaps his face had once been handsome, but now it was covered with too many scars from too many battles. Matt could easily imagine this man atop a charging stallion, brandishing a sword above his head and leading a thousand men into a battle that he would win.

"Come to me, son," Hiroaki whispered in a deep voice that told of the pain he was in. "Come sit by me."

Matt went to sit on the edge of the bed by his father and used every bit of training he had to conceal the anxiety he felt. He had worked for years to make his tutor's reports to Hiroaki as good as possible. He had always wanted to please this man he had never met and to live up to what was expected of him. Now, looking at Hiroaki's dark harshness, he felt the man would be disappointed in his blond, pale son. But Matt let none of these feelings show.

Hiroaki put up a scarred hand, still strong, and touched his son's cheek. His old, darkened blue eyes softened with unshed tears. "You look like her. You look like my beautiful Natsuko." He ran his hand down Matt's arm. "And you have the size of the men in her family." His eyes and lips smiled. "But you have the height of a Draconian. At least you got something from me, for I see no other resemblance. And that hair! That's Natsuko's hair."

Hiroaki nearly laughed but it turned into a cough. Matt sensed that his father wouldn't want comfort, so Matt sat still until the spasm was over.

"There is something eating my insides away. I've known it for a long time but I put death off until I had seen you. Did Michel treat you well?"

"Very well," Matt said softly. "I couldn't have asked for better."

Hiroaki smiled and closed his eyes a moment. "I knew he would. He always did love you. From the day you were born he loved you. After Natsuko died…" He paused and swallowed. "Death brings back memories. I'm praying to see your mother again soon. After my dear Natsuko's death I would have given you to Michel to raise if he had asked, but he attacked my men and me; he tried to _take_ you."

Hiroaki coughed again but soon controlled the spasm.

"You could have sent for me," Matt said gently. "I would have come."

Hiroaki smiled and seemed to be comforted by this. "Yes, but I _wanted_ you to grow up where your mother grew up. Natsuko showed me peace." He took Matt's hand. "No one has conquered Draconians, boy. We have survived every single one who tried to take over." He paused and smiled. "We didn't survive priests, though. They showed us faith. But we fought off the invaders. We Draconians can outfight anyone—except ourselves," he added sadly.

"The tribes fight each other," Matt said. "I've seen it myself."

Hiroaki squeezed Matt's hand. "I heard you walked against the Og'rilahs alone, that you faced Hiroki himself."

"They are Draconian."

"Yes," Hiroaki said forcefully, and Matt waited while he controlled another coughing fit. "When I met Natsuko, I saw then how a country could have one king. I'm called the King of Draconia but I'm actually the king of the Misthearts only. No Og'rilah or Blackheart will call me king. We will always be a divided nation of tribes. But if we are not united, Draconia will die."

Matt was beginning to understand what his father was asking of him. "You want me to unite the Draconians?" He didn't fully keep the horror from his voice. He hadn't realized how separate the tribes were until he came to Draconia. Because he had stood up to three young boys and an old man didn't mean he could conquer a whole country.

"I left you to be raised outside of my country," Hiroaki continued. "And perhaps because you are only half Mistheart, the other tribes will accept you."

"I see," Matt said, and for a moment his eyes closed. He had known for days that there must be peace in Draconia and, as king, he'd hoped he could stave off war between the tribes. But _unite_ them? Could one man do this in a lifetime? Now they believed, because he'd opened some rusty old gate, that he was meant to be king, but Matt didn't think their belief in him would last. All he had to do was one foreign-seeming thing and again he'd be the outsider. "I was chosen over Ken because I'm foreign," he said softly. "The Draconians believe my half-brother should be king."

Hiroaki's expression changed to anger. "Ken is Mistheart. He hates anyone not Mistheart. I hear you have Hiroki's son with you. Protect him. Ken will kill him if he can. Ken dreams of a Draconia peopled only by Misthearts."

"And the other tribes dream of owning Draconia also?" Matt said tiredly.

"Yes," Hiroaki said. "In my father's father's time we had outsiders to fight and we were happy. War is in our blood, but now we have no invaders, so we attack each other." He held up his scarred hands. "I have killed too many of my own people with these hands. I could not stop, for I am Mistheart."

He clutched Matt's hand and his eyes were pleading. "I am leaving Draconia to you and you must save it. You can. You opened Susanoo's Gate."

Matt smiled at his dying father but inside he was remembering an heiress who had been offered to him and he had refused her. If he had accepted her, he could now be sitting by a fire, a hound at his feet, a child or two on his lap. "It's a wonder the wind didn't knock those gates down twenty years ago." Because of a boy, an old man, and some rusty gates, he was believed to be capable of _anything_. Part of him wanted to jump on his horse and ride out of Draconia as fast as possible. But the scar on his leg began to twitch.

Hiroaki smiled and lay back against the pillows. "You have Natsuko's modesty and, I hear, her sweet temper also. Were my Draconians hard on you on the journey here?"

"Fearful," Matt said, smiling genuinely. "They don't have a high opinion of outsiders."

"Draconians believe only in Draconians." He looked at Matt as if trying to memorize Matt's blond hair and blue eyes. "But you will change that. You will do what I could not. Perhaps if Natsuko had lived, I could've done something to bring about peace, but I lost my spirit when she died. Draconians will kill each other off if the tribes are not united. We will be so busy fighting each other we won't see the next invading horde that comes over the mountains. I'm putting my faith in you, boy."

Hiroaki closed his eyes, as if trying to gather his strength, while Matt considered the enormity of what his father was asking of him. Because Hiroaki had fallen in love with a beautiful woman, he believed the son of that union capable of great feats. Matt wished he had half as much faith in himself as his father did. The thought of what was ahead of him, dealing with the hardheaded Draconians, trying to change the way they had thought for centuries, seemed like more than he could bear. Again, he wanted to run away, home to safety. But then he remembered Mimi. Mimi was the one Draconian he could understand. Perhaps, with Mimi beside him, he could indeed conquer a country.

"Father," Matt said softly, "is it true that you mean for me to marry Sora?"

Hiroaki opened his tired eyes. "I chose her when she was just a child. She reminds me of Natsuko, so calm and kind, yet strong inside. She is the captain of the Women's Guard. She is as strong as she is wise and beautiful. She will make you an excellent wife."

"Yes, I'm sure she would but—" Matt broke off at Hiroaki's glare. The old man's body might be dying but his mind was perfectly healthy.

"You have not married a foreign woman, have you? Your children would be even less Draconian."

"There is no other _foreign_ woman," Matt said pointedly, and his father waited, his eyes piercing into Matt's, making Matt shift on the seat. He had felt less fear of Hiroki than he did of this old man when he looked like that. No wonder he had ruled for so long. "There is another woman. I believe she is also of the guard and eligible for my wife. Her name is Mimi."

Hiroaki dropped his head back on the furs as if in agony. "How strong are your feelings for her?"

Matt felt somewhat embarrassed but he tried to control the blood rushing to his face. He wanted Mimi enough to risk disappointing this father whom he had always lived for. "Strong," he managed to say, and in that one word he told of his lust and desire and need for her. He hoped his father would understand that he was willing to fight for Mimi.

Hiroaki lifted his head again and looked hard into his son's eyes. There was strength there, the strength of generations of Draconian kings. "When I wanted Natsuko, I wanted her. I would have stolen her in the night if Michel denied me her. Does Mimi feel the same as you?"

Matt could remember the passion with which she returned his kisses. "Yes," he said. "It is the same."

"I don't want to hear how you met her. She was, no doubt, where she should not have been, which is like Mimi. Oh, my son, why couldn't you have loved Sora? Mimi is a problem. She is as hotheaded as her brother, and as angry as her mother. The girl's mother tried to threaten me into marrying her after she gave birth to Ken. To punish me she married my most loyal man, Keisuke, and made his life hell."

Hiroaki paused, resting his voice and his mind. "If I give Mimi to you, it will cause many problems. Sora will become your enemy, and the Misthearts love Sora and they would hate you for dishonoring this beloved woman. And Mimi is promised in marriage to—"

"Promised?" Matt gasped.

"Yes," Hiroaki answered. "She is to marry the nephew of Jun who is the leader of the Blackhearts. It would not do to anger Jun."

Matt's mouth dropped open. "A _woman_ is the leader of a tribe?" He was to conquer a _woman_? Did these Draconians expect him to meet her in hand-to-hand combat?

Hiroaki smiled at his son. "She uses her brain when we men use our backs. She has been the leader since her husband was killed. Jun already hates the Misthearts, me and my issue in particular, and it would not do to further enrage her. You are going to have a difficult enough time with the people who support Ken. Can't you reconsider and marry Sora? Or someone else perhaps? Mimi is—"

"The one I want," Matt said flatly, his jaw set rigid.

Hiroaki gave a deep sigh. "There is a way."

"I will take it."

"She might lose. You might lose both Mimi and Sora."

"If it is a fight, I will meet the challenge."

"It will not be your fight but Mimi's," Hiroaki said, then began to explain. "Draconian women have always been strong. They protect their men's backs in battle. They protect themselves when the men are away. It has always been good to have a strong wife, and at one time a man could choose a wife through a Honorium."

"Which is?" Matt asked.

"It's rather like your tournaments back home, only the women are the participants."

"The _women_ joust?" Matt asked, incredulous.

"No, they have contests of skill, shooting, javelin, tossing, running, leaping a bar, wrestling, there are many contests. The winner wins the man who has called the Honorium."

Before Matt could speak, Hiroaki took his son's hand. "An invitation must go out to all the tribes when the king is involved. Mimi is young and has never been in a battle. You do not know how she will react in a contest. She could very well lose." He paused. "As could Sora."

"It is a chance I will have to take."

"You don't understand. Most of our guardswomen are beautiful, but the other tribes, to show their contempt for the Mistheart king, will send women who are beasts." Hiroaki's lip curled. "You have never seen a Shatterheart woman. They are filthy creatures who are sly and dishonest. They will steal your hair while you sleep if they can find a buyer. And Hiroki will send someone hideous, no doubt. I have oxen smaller and better looking than Og'rilah women. Think what you are doing, boy, and take Sora. She is beautiful and—"

"Would you have dared a Honorium to win my mother?"

"Yes," Hiroaki said softly. "I would have dared anything when I was young and my blood was boiling at the sight of her."

"My blood boils for Mimi," Matt answered firmly. "Call the Honorium."

Hiroaki nodded. "It will be done, but stay away from her. Let no one know of your intention to win her. You do not know what anger you will stir up if you slight Jun's nephew. I will say the Honorium is to show your intention of being fair to all the tribes. All the tribes will have a chance to put a queen on the throne. Now, you must go. Send Jou to me so that I may announce the Honorium."

"I thought perhaps you would like to see your son and your grandson."

Hiroaki's eyes widened. "Takeru? The infant boy I left behind? He is with you?"

"Yes, and he brought his son, Shinichi. He's a clever child."

"Not as clever as you were as a child, I'll wager," Hiroaki said, smiling. "Yes, do send them in. I just pray that Takeru will find a suitable woman."

Matt smiled. "Well, he seems quite taken with the brunette who came with Sora and Tai, though I don't recall her ever speaking a word."

Hiroaki laughed until he began to cough. "Little Hikari? Ah, that'd be a good match. Hikari's a wonderful young lady who's never been in love. I bet if anyone can melt her heart, it'll be gentle Takeru."

"Takeru can do it if anyone can," Matt rose, then on impulse lifted his father's hand and kissed it. "I regret... I regret that—"

"No!" Hiroaki said sharply. "No regrets. You are what I prayed every night you would be: you are of no tribe. You are a Draconian king who has loyalty to no particular tribe. You can unite this country. I just hope the wife by your side— No, no regrets. Send my son to me, and the boy."

"Yes, my father," Matt said, and started to leave the room.

"Son," Hiroaki called, "get Jou to give you some proper clothes so you won't look like a foreigner."

Matt nodded and left the room.

Outside Hiroaki's room, Matt leaned against the dark stone wall and closed his eyes, feeling the enormity of the burden of faith his father was placing on him. He had always thought he was to be king of a single country, but now he found he was to unite six tribes who hated each other, six tribes who stole from each other, killed each other without guilt. He took a moment to pray for guidance from God. He would do the best he could and rely on God for help. And Mimi, he thought, opening his eyes. Mimi would be there to help him too. He made his way through the dark corridor and stopped when he heard Takeru's anxious voice, attempting to make conversation with a hesitant Kari.

"If I may interrupt," Matt said, "our father would like to see you and Shin and, Hikari, is it?"

She nodded, "Yes, Prince Yamato?"

"Ah, she speaks." Matt turned to Takeru and whispered. "See? No need to be anxious, brother. She has quite the angelic voice." He winked.

Kari gave them a questioning look.

"Ah, yes, Hikari, could you take me to someone named Jou?"

She nodded reverently and walked away.

"First Jou," Matt whispered, "then Mimi." He followed Kari, whistling.

---------------

Mimi left the training field with regret but the man who had come to her said she was needed urgently. It seemed odd that she was needed in the stables, but lately everything had been odd. Ever since Hiroaki had sent for his foreign son, her world had turned upside down. She would go now and find out who wanted her, then she would find Ken and offer him what comfort she could.

The stables were dark and empty of people. She thought with disgust that now the Og'rilah could attack and win because of the disorganization of the Misthearts.

"Hello?" she called but no one answered. She drew her knife as her suspicions rose and began to creep slowly along the hall, her back to the horses' stalls.

As cautious as she was, she wasn't prepared for the hand that shot out and clamped about her mouth. Another strong arm knocked the knife from her hand and she was pulled back into the darkness of a horse stall.

She began to struggle but, as if her strength were nothing, the man turned her around in his arms and clutched her body to his. Even though she couldn't see his face in the darkness, her body told her it was _him._

When his mouth swooped down on hers, she responded with all the passion she felt. Since yesterday she had told herself that her reaction to this handsome stranger was a fluke, something that couldn't happen again. It had been the time and the place. She had been lonely for Tai, and, too, when she saw the man, both of them had been half naked. It was no wonder she had reacted as she did. She had also minimized the passion she had felt. It was natural to feel so good at the kiss of such a good-looking man.

But Mimi had forgotten her feelings by half. She hadn't remembered the way she felt in this man's arms, the way her body weakened and quivered at his touch.

When he lifted his head, her arms were around his neck, her fingers entangled in his hair—and she wanted more of him.

"Mimi," he whispered, and his voice seemed to penetrate her. "We will be together now," he murmured against her lips.

She opened her mouth against his, like a flower opening to a bee, wanting her pollen to be taken. Together meant making love and she was ready for him. She didn't think of the consequences or where they were. For all she cared, they could be in the midst of a banquet hall.

She opened her legs a bit, pressed her hips against his, and let him hold her upright as he supported her weight.

"My love," he whispered, kissing hungrily at her neck as if he were trying to eat her skin. "We will be together. I have arranged it."

"Yes," she murmured, her eyes closed, her head back. "Together. Now."

He pulled away from her to look at her face. "You tempt me very much, more than I would've thought possible. Mimi, my love, I didn't know I could feel this way. Tell me that you love me. Let me hear the words."

She had no thought of words; she only felt. She felt his body next to hers; felt his big, hard thighs pressed against hers. She wanted to put her skin next to his, to entangle her toes with his, to feel her breasts against the hardness of his chest. She wanted to run her hands, her fingertips, her nails over his skin.

"Mimi!" he gasped, and plunged his mouth against hers so hard that she lost balance and fell backward, her back slamming against the stone wall of the stable. He didn't release her but kept kissing her, his body crushing into hers until Mimi thought she might die from the weight of him, yet, instead of struggling for release, she pulled him closer.

Suddenly, he released her and moved away from her into the deep shadows of the corner of the stall.

"Go," he said raggedly. "Go or you are a maiden no more. Leave me, Mimi."

She held herself upright by clutching at the stones behind her, the roughness cutting into her palms. Her heart was pounding in her throat and her body seemed to be pulsating in undulating waves.

"Get out of here before someone sees you," he said.

Mimi's mind was beginning to function again. Yes, no one must see her. She struggled to stand upright on her weak knees and she fumbled a few steps forward, clutching at the stall wall for support.

"Mimi," he called.

She didn't turn around. Her muscles were too weak, too fluid to make any unnecessary movements.

"Remember that you are mine," he said. "Do not let Jun's nephew touch you."

She nodded, too dazed to understand what he was saying, and made her way out of the stables. She was glad her feet remembered the way to the women's barracks because her mind was full of nothing but him. She kept rubbing her fingertips, remembering the feel of him.

"Mimi," someone called, but she didn't respond.

"Mimi!" Sora said sharply. "What's wrong with you? Where's your knife? Why is your hair loose? What are those marks on your neck? Have you been attacked?"

Mimi gave her friend a crooked smile. "I'm fine," she whispered.

Frowning, Sora took Mimi's arm and forcibly led her to her chamber. It was a simple room with only the necessities of a bed, a table, a chair, a washstand, and a large chest for clothing. Weapons hung on the walls.

"Sit down," Sora ordered Mimi, pushing her toward the bed. Sora dampened a cloth and pressed it to Mimi's forehead. "Now tell me what has happened to you."

Mimi was beginning to recover herself. "I…I'm all right. Nothing has happened to me." She pulled the cloth away. Her hands were still shaky but she was recovering. She _must_ stay away from that man. He was like a disease that only she could catch—a disease that was going to kill her.

"Tell me your news," Mimi said. "You have met this pretender?" Perhaps her hatred of the usurper could make her forget her passion. "Is he as stupid as we thought?"

Sora was puzzled by her friend's looks. "He isn't stupid at all. In fact he seems extraordinarily brave. He rode against Hiroki alone."

Mimi snorted. "That's stupider than I thought. His ignorance no doubt protected him this time, but it won't again. You should go to Hiro while he still lives and beg him to release you from marriage to this repulsive man."

Sora smiled knowingly. "He is not repulsive. He kissed me and it was very, very pleasant."

Mimi gave Sora a hard look. "He presumes too much. Does he think we Draconian women are lax in our morals? How dare he kiss a guardswoman as if she were a peasant?" Even as she said this, Mimi could feel her face growing hot. A man had more than dared to kiss her, and instead of thinking of morals she had nearly mated with him on the stable floor amid the straw.

"He has my permission to presume whenever he wants," Sora said, then turned away. "But it is not to be. Hiro has called a Honorium to fight for the new king."

"A Honorium?" Mimi said in disbelief, at last giving her full attention to her friend. "But there hasn't been such a thing in my lifetime, nor, I doubt, in Hiro's." She jumped to her feet. "How dare this upstart declare such a thing? It's an insult to you. It's as if he were saying the woman chosen for him weren't good enough. He is a bastard! He is a cowardly, sniveling—"

"Mimi!" Sora said, turning. "You're wrong about him and it's Hiro who has called the Honorium. He says his son is to be king of _all_ Draconians and therefore his wife should be chosen from all tribes. It's a noble thing Yamato has done when he agreed to this. What if an Og'rilah woman wins? Or a Shatterheart?" she said, this last question delivered with horror in her voice. "Not many men would be so noble as to allow such a contest. A Honorium hasn't been held since before our great-grandparents were born. I hear the queen who won at the time had half her nose off from many battles. They had no children. Yet Prince Yamato has agreed to marry the winner of the Honorium."

Mimi turned away and offered a silent prayer for help. Why did everyone endow this foreigner with noble characteristics? "He is no doubt ignorant of the possible outcome. He has seen you and thinks all Draconian warriors are like you. Or else he's such an obedient dog he does what he's told without question." Sora's laugh made Mimi turn back.

"Prince Yamato is anything but obedient. Mimi, you must meet him. There is feasting tonight. Come and I will introduce you and you will see for yourself what he's like."

Mimi let her anger show. "I will not betray my brother. Ken should be king and, so far, what I have heard of this usurper makes me more sure of that. You go to the feast and sit with him, I will not. Someone should stay here and see to the camp, and I have weapons to sharpen."

"Such as your knife?" Sora asked pointedly, nodding toward Mimi's empty scabbard.

"I… I fell in the dark," Mimi said haltingly, the blood rushing to her cheeks as she again remembered the man in the stable. "I will go back and find my knife. You go to this feast and I will see you in the morning." Mimi left Sora's room quickly, before Sora began asking more questions about her knife and the marks on her neck the man had made.

Just the thought of the man made Mimi's body begin to warm and she was glad for the cool darkness that hid her red face.

The knife wasn't in the stables and she knew without a doubt that _he_ had it. She leaned against the stall a moment and closed her eyes and cursed herself for being such a fool. Twice she had met this crude oaf and had fallen into his arms like a woman of the streets, yet she didn't know his name or even his station in life. For all she knew he was one of the slaves who worked in the city. Except that he was clean and the Mistheart language he spoke in that deep, smooth voice of his was perfectly pronounced, not like the foreign slaves' guttural attempts at the language.

He could cause her trouble, she thought. He could use the knife as blackmail. The knife was marked with her sign of two lilies and people would know it was hers. He had merely to show it to Tai—what had he said?—Jun's nephew. If Tai saw her knife in another man's possession, there could be trouble between the Blackhearts and the Misthearts.

"Fool!" she cursed herself aloud. "You are a stupid, loose-skirted fool who doesn't deserve to be a guard." She left the stables still cursing herself.

---------------

(**A/N:** I'm extremely sorry you guys. I haven't uploaded since February!! Don't worry, even though I'm really busy, I _will_ make time for at least a chapter or two a week. I don't want to lose my precious readers!! Your reviews mean the world to me. So please, I hope you will continue to read and review! As thanks, here's a long chapter for you to enjoy~)


	5. The Honorium

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_(NOTE: I forgot to add this to the first chapter's "Must Read" but even if I did, nobody would probably read it. So here it is and it concerns the Women's Guard uniform. _

_The tap pants are what would be their trousers, not their underwear. _

_Their soft white tunic is a little shorter in length to their tap pants but nevertheless, overlaps most of it. _

_They wear a thick belt that acts like a cinch belt, so that their tunics don't hang loose. _

_The tunics are very short sleeved, almost sleeveless, and it has a wide neckline that scoops down just above their cleavage. _

_If you look up Ashura from CLAMP's RG Veda, the top part of her outfit is how the Women's Guard uniform looks, like. I want it to look simple yet attractive._

_Also, Momoe is Miyako's sister in Digimon. She was the only unknown character I could've used for the ugly oxen lady._

_Well that's it for this chapter's must read. Until next chapter.)_

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 5  
The Honorium**

Mimi didn't sleep much that night, and before dawn Ken's pounding on the door made her pull on her tunic and trousers and shove the bolt back. Ken's lithe, yet muscular figure strode in angrily.

"Have you seen him?" Ken demanded. "He has bewitched my father. Because he opened a rusty gate, my father thinks he is capable of _anything_. I should have pushed that gate open years ago."

Mimi, still groggy with sleep, blinked at her brother. Ken was a man with lighter skin than that of his tribe, shiny black hair straightened out about his shoulders, thin black brows nearly meeting now as he frowned, and fury in his clear blue eyes as the skin of his lips twisted in anger.

Ken slammed his fist into his palm. "Already he talks of roads and of—" he broke off, sounding as if he were choking on the words. "He talks of trade fairs. How does he think we Draconians survived against those who have tried to invade us? We allow _no_ one in—most of all not those wily merchants. Who knows whether they carry an army in their wagons? Yes this… this usurper wants to open our borders to them. He will wipe us out within ten years."

Ken paused to draw breath but did not allow Mimi to speak. "He has Hiroki's son, yet he protects the boy as if he were his own child. I say we hang the pup, and when Hiroki attacks, we kill him. Og'rilah are our enemy. We must protect ourselves."

"Open our borders?" Mimi murmured. "I had not heard this. We will cease to exist. We will be swallowed by invaders." It was but one more in a growing list of reasons why the foreigner should not be King. Hiroaki's mind was as sick as his body. She looked at Ken. But here at last was someone who agreed with her, someone who did not think this usurper was a second cousin to God.

"Yes, but Father does not see it. I tried to talk to him this morning but he ordered me from his room." Ken's head came up. "You have heard of the Honorium? Do you realize that we could have a foreign queen in our midst? I hear Hiroki has daughters. What if one of them won?"

Mimi could only stare at her brother in horror. She had not thought of this.

Ken came to sit by her on the bed and put his arm around her shoulders. "Winning is in your hands, dear sister."

"Me?" she asked, confused.

"You must see that Sora wins the man. You must enter the Honorium and fight as you have never fought before. You must defeat all comers until it is you against Sora."

"Yes," Mimi said, nodding. "Sora will fight for him."

Ken gave a look of disgust. "She looks at the man with dreamy eyes. She can't see him clearly, can't hear what he says."

Immediately, Mimi defended her friend. "Sora is a guard. She must see that he's a fool."

"Sora is also a woman and she sees him as if she were a girl just coming of age." He raised one eyebrow. "Have you seen him yet?"

"No, but what can I see that will change what I know about him?"

"He is pale-skinned with pale hair and some of the women seem to be taken with him. They think with their bodies instead of their minds," he snarled, watching her closely.

She glared at him. "And you think I might be one of these women?" she asked with all the contempt she felt. "I don't care if he is as handsome as Adonis, he will not change my mind. He has no right to be King of Draconia."

"Good!" Ken said, propping down on the bed next to her and slipping his arms around her waist in a hug. "My father asks that you come to the castle and be presented to this imposter prince. The King was distressed that you did not attend the feast last night."

"Did Hiro go?" She was surprised.

"He cannot bear to let his foreign son out of his sight." Ken turned away for a moment and Mimi knew he was trying to conceal his anguish at the way Hiroaki was displaying his love for this son whom he had not seen since Matt was a child. Ken had always worshipped his father but Hiroaki had not thought enough of his son to make him King.

Ken turned back to his sister and he was calmer. "We have to protect Draconia. Whatever this man does to thwart us, we have to protect the country the best way we can by working around him. First we must put a Mistheart queen beside him. We cannot allow a queen of another tribe to infiltrate Drakengard. She would bring foreign retainers and they would open gates at night and bribe guards. No, we must stop it before it begins. We _must_ put Sora on the throne. Do you believe you can win against the challengers?"

"Yes, of course I can," she said—at that moment she was sure she could.

"Good." He stood. "Come with me. You are to meet my father's son."

Mimi grimaced. "Now? Before breakfast?"

"Now. My father demands it."

Feeling as if she were being led to her own execution, she hurriedly finished dressing and followed Ken. She didn't bother putting on her long gown, but, instead, wore her guard uniform of tap pants and tunic with her big blue wool cloak flung over one shoulder. She hesitated over her empty knife scabbard, then decided to wear it pushed toward her back, hidden by her cloak.

Ken was complaining that she was taking too long to dress and that if she took any longer he'd dress her himself, so she flung open the door and left behind him. Her brother did not pay her the courtesy of walking beside her but strode ahead, Mimi trailing behind him as if she were his annoying little sister—which she was.

He led her to the men's training ground, to the edge of the field where the archery targets were set up. Mimi paused for a moment to look at the scene before her. In the shade of a tree to her left lay old Hiroaki, gaunt and gray from his illness, on a bed covered with a pile of pillows. She had never seen the hard old man accept any softness in his life, but here he was surrounded by embroidered feather pillows atop what looked to be a tapestry. In a chair beside him sat a beautiful young man with golden hair wearing a doublet-like garment with blue-gray brocade, and floral designs in a brown, russet color. Attached at the neck and down the front closure was a wide band of ruched trim, in a metallic brown color. The light grayish-blue shirt that showed up at the neck and sleeve openings had a high collar with narrow pleats that extended up into the collar and were stitched down in three horizontal rows of a gold chain stitch. A little boy, golden-haired like his father, stood near his chair. The three of them were looking toward the archery range at the back of two men.

One of the men they were watching Mimi knew was the young captive Og'rilah, for he wore the distinctive purple-and-red-striped tunic of that tribe. Mimi dismissed him, because, even with his back to her, it was the other figure who commanded attention.

He was nearly as tall as a Draconian, perhaps, Mimi grudgingly thought, as tall as some of them, but he was heavier. Fat, she thought, he was covered with fat from his lazy life. His hair was trimmed to just above his collar and the sun flashed off it. It was not white as she had been told but the color of old gold, and looked to be as soft as a girl's.

If Mimi had not been angry before she saw him, she would have been, for he wore a tunic that her mother had embroidered for Hiroaki years ago. It had been loose on Hiroaki but it hugged this man's plump shoulders, and the sumptuous blue and green embroidery emphasized the broadness of his back. Below the tunic showed his heavily muscled thighs and the cross-gartered boots clung to his big calves.

Mimi sniffed. Perhaps he fooled other women, but he wouldn't fool her. She was used to handsome men. Wasn't Tai beautiful enough to make the moon jealous?

She straightened her shoulders and went toward to greet her king while Ken moved away to the center of the training field and his men.

She hated to see Hiroaki as he was now: weak and helpless, just waiting to die, but she would never tell him so. There had always been animosity toward him on her side and grudging respect on his. She had always felt that it was his fault for the early deaths of both her parents. She had been five when she had been orphaned and Hiroaki had taken her into his court, and she had wanted comfort and consoling, but Hiroaki had told her to stop sniveling and had given her a sword to play with. Tai had started teaching her to shoot a bow and arrow when she was six.

"You sent for me?" Mimi asked, looking down at Hiroaki. Her expression showed what she felt about the softness of his bed and she refused to look at the beautiful man with the child.

"Ah, Mimi," Hiroaki said with a smile. He looked like a fatuous old man, not the great Draconian warrior who had repelled thousands of invaders. "Such a beautiful day. Have you met my younger son?"

Mimi didn't change her expression. "You have one true child, a Draconian son." She heard the son's gasp of breath and Mimi smiled to herself. It was good that someone let these intruders know they were not wanted.

Hiroaki sighed and lay back against his pillows. "Ah, Mimi, why are you so hard? These are my children as much as Ken is." He looked past Mimi and smiled, and she knew that his son, the one who wanted the throne, was approaching. "Here is someone who will no doubt make you smile."

Mimi stiffened her spine, hardened her jaw, and turned to meet this man she already hated.

The first jolt that ran through her when she saw him made her knees buckle. He put out his hand and caught her forearm and even that slight touch sent chills through her body.

_Him!_

How could he be the one she had had her secret trysts with? How had she not seen his golden hair? Then she remembered that at their first meeting his hair had been wet and dark, and their encounter in the stables had been in the darkness.

She jerked her arm from his grasp and somehow managed to turn her back on him.

"You have met before?" Hiroaki asked knowingly.

"No," Mimi managed to say.

"Yes," Matt said at the same time.

Mimi stood rigid, her back to him, refusing to look at him. He was standing too close to her to allow her to think, but already she realized how she had been used. He thought that if he could get her on his side, then perhaps Ken and the men who followed Ken as the true prince would come to his usurper.

"I have had the honor of seeing the lady," Matt said from behind Mimi. "But only from afar."

To Mimi's horror, he slipped his hand to her back and clutched the tail of her braid.

"And I had heard of you, also," Takeru said politely, but Mimi did not look at him. "I heard only of your skills of war but not of your beauty."

Mimi stood rigid, looking at the tree in front of her.

"Mimi!" Hiroaki bellowed, then collapsed into coughing. Takeru clucked over him and, to Mimi's disgust, Hiroaki not only allowed it but seemed to want such soft attention. Mimi wanted to move away from Matt but he held her braid fast.

"You will treat my children with respect," Hiroaki said raggedly, his throat raw from coughing. "You will thank my son for his pretty compliment."

Mimi stared straight ahead and said nothing. It was difficult to concentrate on the world around her with this man standing so close.

When Hiroaki started to rise again, Takeru soothed him. "Please, Father, do not vex yourself. I'm sure Mimi is used to such compliments. Matt, your squire and your captive look as if they might kill each other. Perhaps you should attend to them."

Mimi didn't look at him but she felt his hesitation. He moved only when the clash of steel on steel rang out. In spite of herself, Mimi turned to watch him move toward the two tall boys who were attempting to kill one another. Mimi recognized one as the young man who had told her she was wanted in the stables. He was as dark as a Draconian and she had not realized he wasn't. Since he had delivered his message in Draconian, she wondered if he had memorized the message and repeated it by rote.

She watched Matt stalk across the field toward the boys. He showed no fear or hesitation as he moved into the middle of the fighting young men with their swords flashing in rage. Matt merely slammed his open palm into the chest of each boy and sent him flying. The boys landed on their seats in a cloud of dust.

"My men do not fight each other," Matt said in a low voice that carried more threat than a shout.

"I am not _your_ man," Iori yelled up at Matt. "My father is Hiroki and—"'

"_I_ am your master," Matt said, cutting him off. "You are not Og'rilah, you are Draconian and _I_ am your king. Now, both of you go and polish my mail."

Daisuke, lifting himself from the dust, groaned. To be cleaned, chain mail had to be put in a big leather bag with oil and then tossed from one person to another. It was like tossing a rock back and forth.

Hiroaki chuckled with pleasure at his son's settling of the dispute.

Mimi whirled to face him. "Whatever he does pleases you," she spat at the old man. "He claims kingship that is not his to claim. He brags that he is King of _all_ Draconians, but to be that, he would have to declare war on the other tribes. Is he to kill Hiroki and Jun? What of Junpei and Koushiro? We have peace now but will we if this man kills merely to feed his vanity so that he can say he is King of more than the Mistheart? I beg of you, do not leave us with this braggart for King. We need no more war between the tribes. Each tribe patrols its own borders. If a tribe is destroyed, we will be attacked and we will exist no more. Please, I beg you, we all beg you, give us a king who understands what must be."

Hiroaki glared at her, his face turning purple with a suppressed rage that was making his need to cough so strong that he could not contain it.

Takeru came on his feet and hovered over Hiroaki. "Are you all right, Father?"

"Mimi, leave," Hiroaki ordered forcefully.

Mimi was outraged. "But—"

"Go!" Hiroaki yelled, bursting into coughing fits.

Takeru looked at her, pleading. "Please… you have upset him enough."

Mimi turned on her heel, looking neither left nor right, and left the training field.

Matt walked back to his father but his eyes were on Mimi's back.

"You are a fool," Hiroaki croaked up at his son. "She will make your life miserable."

Matt smiled. "I don't have a choice in the matter. As I am to be King, she is to be mine."

"Yours?" Takeru asked. "What's going on? Matt… tell me you aren't planning a union with that woman. I mean, yes, she is beautiful, but she is also rude, thoughtless, uncaring of anyone but herself, and she has no respect for your right to be King. She is altogether unsuitable to even live in our house much less in a position of honor."

"Mmm," was all Matt said, and turned back toward the archery range.

---------------

Mimi trained harder than anyone would have thought possible over the next few days. She attended no banquets of welcome for arriving contestants nor did she leave the fields to greet them. She was up before dawn, running for miles on the long, winding trails outside the city walls. She jumped across wide streams, walked across four-inch-wide logs, and practiced throwing her spear and shooting her arrows. She stopped only long enough to wolf down vast meals and at night fall into bed into a deep, dreamless sleep.

"Mimi," Sora said on the fourth day, "slow down. You will be too tired to compete."

"I must be ready. I must win."

"You want to win?" Sora asked softly.

"Winning to me is making sure that you win. He must have someone of wisdom on the throne beside him. His vanity and stupidity are overwhelming. Without you beside him, I fear he will destroy Draconia."

Sora frowned. "Mimi, I'm not so sure you're right. He doesn't seem vain at all. He trains almost as much as you do and he oversees the men all day. He is very fair and impartial in settling disputes and he is very kind to the women who are arriving for the Honorium." She stopped and laughed. "Do you remember three years ago when we came upon that hunting party of Og'rilah? You and I were alone and they stopped to water their horses."

"Yes, we hid in the bushes and waited for them to leave."

"Remember the leader? That big woman with the scarred face?"

"We heard her speak and thought she was a man."

"Yes," Sora said, "that's the one. Her name is Momoe and she has come to try for Yamato's hand in marriage."

Mimi smiled wickedly. "He deserves such as her." Her face changed. "But we Mistheart do not. Sora, you _must_ win."

Sora looked at her friend sharply. "Why is it that you hate him so much? Since he opened the gate, most of us are willing to give him a chance to prove himself."

"Yes," Mimi snapped," all of you are willing to forget how he does not belong here, how he is taking Ken's rightful place. You look at his pretty form and do not see the treachery inside his soul."

"I didn't know you knew him so well."

"I do not know him at all," Mimi answered, and knew she was giving herself away. The man haunted her every waking moment, and in the morning before she fully woke, she reached for him in her bed. "I do not _want_ to know him. Are we going to talk all day or train?"

Mimi beat everyone at every contest during training. The Honorium was to be three long, hard days of games, and the contestants were awarded points for how they placed in the contests. At the end of the first day, one third of the entrants with the lowest scores were eliminated, another third at the end of the second day. On the third day, all the games were replayed but only with pairs of contestants. The loser of each match was eliminated. By the end of the day there would only be two women left and the winner of the final match, a hand-to-hand battle with wooden poles, won the prize—which happened to be the queenship of Draconia. Twice Mimi received messages that she was urgently needed in some dark, secluded spot but both times she refused to appear. He thought she was a light skirt, someone who was easy prey for his lusts, and twice she had fallen under his spell, but she wouldn't be such a fool again. She wondered how many other women he was secretly seducing. Every time she saw one of the trainees return from Drakengard, her face flushed, her voice hushed, her eyes alight, and she wondered if she had been with Matt.

"And who has he chosen for his bed?" she blurted once to Sora. She was drenched in sweat and her muscles ached but she wouldn't stop training.

"He? Who?"

"Hiro's son, of course," Mimi said tightly. "Who else does everyone speak of? Who else is Draconia obsessed with?"

"You seem to be also," Sora said thoughtfully.

"Me? I _hate_ him." She threw her javelin with ferocity and hit the target exactly in the red center.

"How can you hate someone you've met only once? You should come with me tonight and speak with him."

Mimi retrieved her javelin. "Is that all you do? Speak with him? No doubt he is as celibate as a saint and he does not bed a different woman each night."

"I have not heard a whispered word of what he does in bed at night. If he has a woman, he's very discreet about it. Somehow, I don't believe he does. I think he sleeps alone or everyone in the city would know about it. The chosen women would no doubt brag."

"Brag about what? That some soft—"

"Soft?" Sora laughed. "Yamato may be called many things but soft isn't one of them. You should come with me and watch him train. When he removes his tunic and—"

"I have no desire to see his nakedness," Mimi said shrilly. "Shouldn't you be practicing your jumping? You're weak on that."

Sora looked at her friend for a long moment. "Mimi, be careful that you don't protest too much or you will make people think the opposite is true."

Mimi started to reply, but she closed her mouth and threw her javelin with renewed vigor.

---------------

Mimi had been training so hard for so many days that she was unaware of the preparations that had been made for the Honorium. Wooden seats had been built outside city walls, sections of them canopied for Hiroaki's family and for any tribal leaders who might attend the games. Vast quantities of food, whole cows and boars, vats of vegetables, bins of loaves of bread, and barrels of ale had been prepared. Anyone who came to the games would be fed at Hiroaki's expense for three full days.

At dawn on the first day there was to be a parade of the contestants, to walk through the watching, cheering, leering crowd and to pause before the stands and Prince Yamato.

The women gathered on the Mistheart training field before dawn and Mimi had her first good look at her competition. There were two women from the Shatterheart tribe and Mimi knew they had come only for the excitement and the chance to steal what they could. They were small women but she knew them to be quick and agile. How they rolled their big, liquid eyes from one person to another and smiled in their secret, infuriating way, she thought. There were a half dozen Blackhearts, each woman wearing about her upper arm one of the beautiful bracelets the Blackhearts made. These women could be fierce fighters.

There were eight Frenzyhearts, and Mimi dismissed these women. On horses the people of this tribe were formidable, but they were like fish on dry land when out of the saddle.

No Inkheart women came, nor did anyone expect them to. If the contest had been for the memorization of epic poems, the Inkheart would have won, but they were people who did not battle unless forced to—and then they were unbeatable.

The fifty women left were Og'rilahs and Misthearts. All the Women's Guard of the Misthearts were participating, even the trainees, in hopes that they would win Matt's hand in marriage. The Og'rilah women were a sight to behold: big, muscular, many of them scarred from brawls with each other. Mimi knew they would be the only competition, for although the Misthearts would win the contests of speed and agility, few could overcome the sheer muscle of the Og'rilahs.

Sora nudged Mimi and nodded toward Momoe. She was the largest, the oldest, the most frightening of the Og'rilahs.

The trumpets sounded and the parade began.

The women stood in a long line before the canopied stands, and Matt, resplendent in a green silk tunic of Draconian design, came down the steps to walk before them, murmuring good luck to each woman. He paused for a long time before Momoe, looking her in the eye. The tip of her nose had been cut off in some previous battle. Sora smiled when he offered Momoe good luck also, but Mimi did not.

When Matt stopped in front of Mimi, she did not look at him, but gazed fixedly somewhere to the right of his head.

"May God be with you," he whispered.

Minutes later a shout went up and the games began.

The first day was easy and Mimi held herself back, reserving her strength for the days to come. All she needed to do was place high in the winners of each event to be able to compete the next day. She was always in the top four of each race and each contest, but never the winner. Besides, she did not want to show everyone her skill this first day. Momoe won every event she entered, even the foot race, although she elbowed aside a Mistheart trainee at the last moment.

Mimi had no idea how the Og'rilah woman's place in the events was affecting Matt. Each time Momoe was declared a winner, he died a little inside, until by the end of the day he looked more tired than the contestants.

Mimi left the field pleased with the day's events and went back to the women's barracks to bathe and rest.

By the end of the second day there were only sixteen women left to compete with each other for the final day's events.

"Mimi," Sora said, "whoever draws Momoe for the wrestling match will lose against her."

"Perhaps not," Mimi said, but she was lying. Early tomorrow morning lots would be drawn to see who competed with whom in which event. Most anyone could beat Momoe in the contests of speed but the wrestling event would eliminate someone. "Perhaps another woman will draw her, and she will be the one to lose."

"I just worry that one of us will be pitted against her."

"Me," Mimi said quickly. "She might beat me but at least you will only have the poles to use against her. And she will be tired after a battle with me. I can assure you of that."

Sora didn't smile. "Come with me, I want to go into the city."

"Why?" Mimi asked sharply. "There is nothing in the city for us and we need rest."

"I am meeting Prince Yamato," Sora said quietly.

In spite of herself, Mimi felt angry. "Oh? He asks for a taste of what is to be his? Is he bedding the other contestants as well? Momoe perhaps?"

"Stop this!" Sora commanded. "You have changed since he came. No, I am not planning to spend the night with him. If you must know, Tai is arranging the meeting."

"Tai?" Mimi asked, aghast.

"You have been so busy training you haven't had time to see your intended, but I am not so. Yamato is my intended, at least I think of him as much, and I want to see him so he can privately wish me luck. I thought perhaps you might like to go with me and see Tai."

"Yes," Mimi muttered, "of course." She hadn't thought of Tai in days. "I would very much like to see him."

The land immediately outside the city walls and all the area inside the walls was as light as day, with hundreds of torches lighting scenes of drunken people dancing and cavorting in celebration. So many people slapped Mimi and Sora on the back that Mimi went to draw her knife, but met only with an empty scabbard.

Matt was waiting for them in a shadow of Hiroaki's stone castle. He had been waiting for quite some time and the stones were hurting his back, but he would wait for days if it meant a moment alone with Mimi. She had been better at pretending they did not know one another than he had. He was almost glad, at the start of the games that she had not looked at him because he might otherwise have forgotten himself.

As the games had progressed and she came in second, third, even fourth, he began to doubt if she would eventually win. He had nervously asked Tai to reassure him of Mimi's skill as a guard. At the end of the second day, he knew he could no longer be cautious and that he had to risk a private meeting with Mimi and had asked Tai to arrange it.

Now, he stood waiting for her.

Mimi sensed his presence before she saw him. "There," she said to Sora, her voice choked. Mimi watched as Sora stepped toward the shadow and Matt's big arm came out and grabbed her. Mimi's hands made fists at her side. So it was true, she was just one of many. This horny satyr grabbed and pawed at all women. Did he tell Sora of his love for her? Everyone said he trained so hard, but if he spent so much time hiding in stables and kissing women, how much time did he have for training?

"You're Sora," she heard Matt say, and the two of them came into the light while Mimi stepped back out of sight.

"Didn't Tai tell you to meet me?" Sora asked.

"He said I was to meet the one— Yes, yes, of course, he did. Are you alone?"

Mimi saw him searching the darkness.

"Mimi is with me. We came for private good wishes."

His eyes searched the darkness then stopped at Mimi, even though she knew he could not see her. "Mimi," he said, and held out his hand toward her.

Mimi did not move.

"Yamato," Sora said as he moved toward Mimi.

Matt walked toward Mimi, his hand outstretched. "May I give you a kiss of luck?" he asked softly.

She recovered herself. "You have kissed enough for tonight," she spat at him.

It infuriated her that he chuckled. "I have something of yours," he said, and held out her knife. She snatched it from him, careful not to touch his fingertips. "Do I get no thanks for its return?"

Mimi was suddenly aware of Sora standing a little behind Matt and listening intently to this exchange. "I must go," she said. "Stay and wish Sora luck." She turned away and fled from the two of them.

She was blind from her anger and didn't see or hear Tai until he caught her. Thinking he was Matt, she struggled fiercely until she realized Tai was holding her.

"Who has harmed you?" he asked, fury in his voice. "What are you running from?"

She clung to him. No one paid them the least attention as many couples were embracing drunkenly and the noise of their singing and brawling was deafening.

"Come," Tai said, and led her away. It was quieter with only a horse for company. "What has happened?"

She put her arms around his neck. "Nothing. Nothing at all, just hold me, kiss me." He kissed her but it didn't rid Matt from her mind. "Tomorrow Sora will win and be married to the foreigner. Could we be married tomorrow also?"

Tai was frowning at her. "Why this sudden interest in me and my kisses? Why do you want to act like a woman?"

She pushed him away. "But I _am_ a woman. Because I don't wear elegant gowns and silks doesn't mean I am less of a woman."

"I know you, Mimi. I have known you since you were a child. Your emotions do not rule your head."

"They haven't until _now!_" she yelled at him, then pushed away from him and began running back to the barracks.

Sora was waiting for her and she was very, very angry. "You plan to win for yourself, don't you?" Sora said with controlled fury. "He kissed me, but he thought I was you. Behind my back you have wooed him and lied to me. You have _never_ been my friend. Our friendship is nothing but lies."

Sora slammed from the room, leaving Mimi alone and trembling. _He _had done this. Since he had come to Draconia, everything in her life had changed: Hiroaki hated her, Sora hated her, Tai was suspicious of her.

The only way to prove to them all that she was not deceitful was to make sure that Sora won tomorrow. Sora would win and Mimi would be free of Matt. She could marry Tai and he would keep her nights so busy that she would think of no other man. Her attraction to Matt was only physical, and it was no wonder since she was a virginal twenty-one-year-old woman. What she needed was a strong, healthy man in bed beside her and she could forget this soft foreigner.

Soft, she thought. If he were soft, she wouldn't have had the trouble she had now.

As she undressed for bed, she resolved to fight to the death if need be in order to win for Sora. She and Sora would be pitted together with the poles and the moment Sora so much as lifted her pole, Mimi would fall down, vanquished, the loser.

This time tomorrow Sora would again be her friend and Tai would be her husband. This time tomorrow she would no longer be a maiden.

---------------

(**A/N:** So I'm two weeks overdue. Sorry guys. Work was a bitch. They gave me the flu. But the chapter's done now and I hope you enjoy the read. Please review. Thank you kindly!)


	6. The Queen

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 6  
The Queen**

In the morning, Sora looked tired and refused to speak to Mimi. Mimi tried to reassure her friend but Sora turned away.

The women marched to the field and Mimi could feel her blood pumping with anger. Her arms would be torn from their sockets before she lost an event.

The lots were drawn and to her horror Sora drew Momoe in the wrestling match. The other contestants were visibly relieved, especially because Momoe didn't seem to realize that the matches were games. She played to win.

Mimi tried to whisper encouragement to Sora, but Sora glared at her. "This should please you. Now you will be queen. Do you mean to poison Yamato and give the throne to your brother? Or is it Yamato himself that you want?"

Mimi straightened her spine. "If you cannot beat an Og'rilah, you do not deserve to be queen." She moved away from a scowling Sora.

On this last day she had to win only three times and the last game would be against Sora—if Sora won the wrestle. If Sora lost, then Mimi would have to fight Momoe, and Mimi knew that, win or lose, she would not like the outcome of that match. She would become Matt's wife or Momoe would become queen.

Sora _had_ to win.

Mimi won the first three games easily. She outran one of the Mistheart trainees then placed six arrows in the dead center of the target to beat a Frenzyheart girl who had surprisingly made it to the finals. The third game was harder: she had to leap a pole set high above the ground. She made it but just barely. She nearly wept with relief when the heavier Og'rilah woman knocked the pole down and so lost the match.

Now all that remained was Sora's match with Momoe and Mimi had to fight the winner.

Sora's match with Momoe had already begun and the crowd recognized this as the most serious contest. From the look of the two women, it was like an eagle fighting a hummingbird. Momoe outweighed Sora by at least fifty pounds and Sora's main defenses were intelligence, speed, and agility—none of which meant much when an oak tree was wrapping its limbs around you and crushing.

Mimi joined the line of contestants along the palisades wall and watched the match. She did not shout like the others, but quite calmly prayed with all her being.

Momoe wrapped her big arms around Sora's ribs and squeezed.

"Gouge!" Mimi whispered. "Go for her weak points. Don't let her beat you." She willed her words to reach her friend and Sora seemed to hear them as she pushed her thumbs into Momoe's neck and the pain caused the bigger woman to release.

Mimi's breath released as the two contestants circled each other. Involuntarily, she looked up into the stands to see Matt looking down at her. His expression was one of concern. Behind him Tai was also watching Mimi. She looked back at the match.

Momoe threw Sora to the ground then started to jump, but Sora was too fast as she rolled away and Momoe fell onto empty, hard ground. Instantly, Sora was on her, twisting her arm behind her back.

Momoe's lack of agility played against her as she could not reach Sora to push her off. She was trapped.

Sora held Momoe down for a long while, until the crowd began to scream, "Forfeit! Forfeit!" After a long time of agony for Sora, Momoe did forfeit the match.

Sora stood, but her face was not triumphant. It was gray and ashen with pain and exhaustion and she raised only one arm in victory, keeping her other arm to her side.

Mimi knew her friend was hurt and ran to her side to see how much damage was done. "Quiet!" Mimi commanded when Sora started to protest. "Lean on me but do not let the crowd see you leaning. How bad are you hurt?"

"At least three ribs are broken," Sora said quietly, her voice catching. "Should I forfeit to you?"

"No, we will start our match immediately. I will lose it within moments. If you rest, you will not be able to stand. Now turn and smile and wave at the crowd. It will be over very soon."

Mimi's heart was pounding wildly as she took up her pole in preparation for her "fight" with Sora. She had no intention of trying to make the fight look good. All she wanted was to get it over with, to have her friend declared winner, then at last she would be able to escape the Prince's hold on her.

She and Sora marched to the center of the field side by side.

"When the match begins, lift your pole and hit my head," Mimi whispered. "I will fall and you will be the winner. Do it quickly. Do not risk a rib through your lung. Understand me?"

Sora nodded. There was almost no color in her face.

The two women faced each other in the center of the field. The crowd was silent now, for this was the deciding match.

Trumpets were raised and blown and the match began.

Mimi moved to her left. "Hit me," she whispered.

Sora just stood there, her eyes glazed with pain. Bruises were turning purple under her skin.

"Hit me!" Mimi said, beginning to circle. "Think of your precious Yamato. To get him all you have to do is hit me once. Or do you want _me_ to have him? You want me in his bed, touching him, caressing him?"

Sora raised the right side of her pole to strike, and Mimi, out of instinct and years of practice, lifted her pole to defend herself. The reverberations of the clashing poles shook Sora and her hand dropped as Mimi's pole lightly clipped her on the temple. It was too much for Sora's broken body. She fainted, her body crumpling at Mimi's feet.

For a moment all was silence as Mimi and the crowd stared stupidly at Sora's inert body. Then Mimi fell to her knees just as the crowd began to chant, "Mimi, Mimi, Mimi!"

"Sora!" Mimi screamed over the noise. "Wake up! You must _win_." She began to slap her friend's cheeks but Sora was dead to the world. "Sora!" Mimi screamed over and over again in desperation.

The crowd reached them and hands began to pull Mimi away from Sora.

"No, no," Mimi yelled. "She has only fainted. There was no match. Sora did not forfeit. I did not win. Sora is the winner. Sora, wake up and tell them."

No one heard her as she was lifted onto men's shoulders. Mistheart trainees ran to Sora to protect her from trampling feet and watch Mimi being carried away. They were jubilant that a Mistheart had won.

Mimi kept screaming and pleading, trying her best to get away from the men carrying her, but she was treated like a bag of grain and paid as much heed. The noise of rejoicing was too loud for her to be heard.

By the time they reached the city walls she was frantic. She couldn't make anyone understand. _Sora_ had won, not her. Sora was to be queen.

Sitting on horses just inside the gates were Tai and Hiroaki's son Takeru. Both of them were scowling at her.

"I didn't win," she shouted toward Tai, but she couldn't hear her own words over the noise. She tried to get down and run to Tai, but the hands on her body held her fast.

By the time they reached the inner wall and Hiroaki's old stone castle, she was stunned into silence. This really wasn't happening to her. This was a nightmare.

Hiroaki stood in the doorway, supported by Ryou. He lifted one thin hand and gradually the crowd quieted. "Welcome, daughter," he said. "Your bridegroom waits inside."

"No!" Mimi yelled into the quiet. "Sora won, I—"

Hiroaki's face showed growing anger but it was Ryou who interrupted her. His voice boomed out. "Humility and loyalty are good qualities in a queen."

The crowd cheered at his words and carried Mimi inside the castle, where a priest and Matt awaited her.

The Prince stood beaming at her as if he were an idiot while Mimi tried to protect herself from the hands fumbling at her body while they lowered her. She was given no time to bathe or change but merely dropped to stand beside the usurper, and the priest began the wedding ceremony. She wanted to say no to him, wanted to tell him that he had no right to be in her country, but then she looked at the crowd around her. Their blood was up. They had been drinking for three days now and they wanted to see a proper end to their festivities.

The priest was looking at Mimi and, slowly, every other eye turned toward her and she swallowed. Now was the moment of decision. If she turned and walked out now, the consequences could be great. The different tribes could say the contest was a farce—and if this man Yamato was to lead them, he could never do so if a woman refused him at the altar. They would laugh at him. She had competed and she had taken a chance of winning.

"Mimi," Matt said softly from beside her. "Do you want me or not?"

She turned to look at him, and those eyes of his, deep, fathomless blue, seemed to see inside her.

She turned back to the priest. "I will take the man," she whispered through dry lips.

A deafening cheer went up and Mimi heard no more of what the priest said. Matt turned to her and pulled her into his arms. He whispered something to her but she couldn't hear him, and when he tried to kiss her, she turned her head away.

Her movement seemed to please the crowd.

"You'll have to win her, prince or not," someone called.

Mimi used the moment to push away from the man who was now her husband and make her way through the crowd to a side door. The crowd was laughing at her but she didn't care. She had to get away and find Tai and Sora and talk to them.

---------------

"You're a fool, Matt," Takeru said to his brother. "There is still time, you can repudiate her. Set her aside now before you go to bed with her."

Matt was eating, as he had been doing for the last hour. For the past three days he had watched the games too intently to be able to eat. His one concern had been that Mimi win, and he had not been able to eat for worrying that she wouldn't. "Mimi is the one I want," he said, his mouth full.

"Yes, but does she want you? Where is she now? Why did she run away from you? Why aren't you with your new wife?"

Matt took a deep drink of ale. "She has to do women's things, I don't know what they are. Maybe she wanted to bathe and put on a pretty gown. What do most brides do on their wedding day? What did your late wife do?"

Takeru sighed. Outside they could hear the noise of the revelers. "Matt," he said as calmly as he could, "you have always been a sensible man. You have studied hard to learn about this country. You have told me how great your responsibility is toward this country, but now you risk everything and I don't understand _why_. You have always been most sensible about women. When that beautiful Lady Orimoto Izumi visited us last year, every other man could see no farther than her pretty face, but you said she was a vain viper and you turned out to be right. So why has this Mimi bewitched you? She is not as pretty as Lady Izumi."

"Mimi is far more beautiful than a thousand Lady Izumis." He was looking over a plate of fruit tarts.

"She is _not_!" Takeru exclaimed in a hushed tone.

"And besides, she married Kouji last year. From what I hear, she is to come here to Draconia after she gives birth to their first child." He took a bite of the strawberry tart.

"Yes, and from what I hear, she's not quite the viper with Kouji. He seems to have tamed her. What a loss for you, Matt. You could have tamed her as well as Kouji had."

"I told you, Mimi is the one I want."

"She is the sister of a man who would like to see you dead. You are taking an enemy into your bed. She could slit your throat at night."

"Calm yourself, brother. Here, have a cherry tart." Matt looked up at his brother and saw that he was very serious in his anger. "All right," he said, pushing his chair back. "Perhaps I was a bit hasty, but sometimes a person _knows_ when he is right. I knew from the moment I saw her that she was mine."

Takeru sat down across from him. "What do you know of her? Besides kisses, besides her beauty, what do you really know of her?"

"All that I need to know."

Takeru sighed. "Let me tell you of your precious bride because I have made it my business to find out about her. She is the loyal, loving sister of a man who wants your throne—and the way to get that is through your death. She had no intention of winning the Honorium today. It was common knowledge among the guardswomen that Mimi meant to help Sora win. If you had looked with open eyes at the match between Mimi and Sora, you would have seen that Sora was not hit, she fainted. Now she lies in the Women's Barracks with four broken ribs, and a sprained shoulder. It's a wonder she was able to stand on her own feet after the wrestling match."

Matt was looking at his brother with a faraway expression and Takeru knew he was making no impact on him.

"And then there is her lover," Takeru said softly.

Matt's eyelids lowered a bit. "Jun's nephew."

"Yes, Jun's nephew, Tai."

"Tai?" Matt asked. "But Tai is—"

"Your friend? You _thought_ he was your friend. Have you been telling him of your love for Mimi? Has he said nothing of the fact that they have been betrothed for years?"

Matt frowned and Takeru hoped he was at last listening to him.

"Mimi is your enemy," he said. "She wants you out of Draconia. She meant for Sora to marry you, but I think she said yes to the priest because she realized she could get close to you if she were your wife. Oh, Matt, I beg you to listen to me. I fear for your life. A wife is so close to a man. She could poison you, or stab you and blame someone else. And you are so blinded by her that she could make you do things you ordinarily would not. Look at how you have already called the Honorium in order to get her. Poor Sora now lies broken because of your wanting of this woman. Who else will shed blood because of your passion for her? She doesn't like Shin or me. What will you do if she orders us to leave you?"

"Cease!" Matt ordered. He stood and began to pace the floor. There was so much truth in what Takeru was saying. He knew Mimi had power over him, but he had not considered how she might use that power. "I cannot believe she wants my death," he said softly. "She feels for me as I do for her." Doubt, he thought, doubt seemed to plague his life. But about Mimi he had no doubts. Mimi's love for him and his for her was the only sure thing he'd encountered since he rode across Draconia's border.

Takeru grimaced. "Matt, I know how easy men are to trick. I have been tricked before. Each man believes himself to be the best at all things, believes himself to be the only one a woman loves. But Mimi loves Tai and her brother, and she married you for _them_. She will remove you from their path, and once you are dead she will marry her beloved Tai and Ken will rule."

"I don't believe you," Matt said fiercely. "The woman… cares for me."

"Then where is she?" Takeru asked. "Why is she not here with you? She is with her lover, I tell you, making plans for what to do with you."

Matt stared at his brother for a moment, and some of the fog began to clear from his brain. If what Takeru said were true… "Where is she?" he asked softly.

"I don't know," Takeru sighed. "I sent Daisuke out to look for her, but he didn't see her. Tai rode out of the city walls after Mimi was carried inside. Perhaps she went after him."

Matt remembered the cool, quiet glade where he had first seen Mimi. Perhaps she had gone there. He turned toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Takeru asked, anxious.

Matt's eyes were cool when they looked at him. "I am going to find my wife."

"And if she is with Tai?" Takeru whispered.

"She will not be," he said coolly, and left the room.

Takeru stood where he was for a moment, then he thought of what could happen if Matt found the woman he loved in the arms of another man. He ran from the room to search for Ryou. Ryou would know what to do.

"Meddling fool," Ryou said when Takeru told him some of what she had said to Matt. He was saddling his horse with Kari doing the same thing. "Mimi is no murderer and she is a maiden. She does not lie with Tai. You should not have told the Prince these things and made him doubt."

"He is my brother and I must protect him."

"As Ken is Mimi's brother, but she would no more poison Yamato than you would poison Ken."

"You don't know women," Takeru said stiffly.

"No, and I'm sure you have plenty of experience," he remarked sarcastically as he adjusted his saddle. "I know Mimi. Trust me, I do." He stopped and looked at Takeru standing there, a worried expression on his face. He fastened his saddle.

Kari had already mounted her horse and looked down at Takeru, her eyes soft. "Did you love that woman who tricked you so?" She asked quietly.

Takeru was startled. He looked away shamefully and nodded. Why did it have to be this angelic being to ask him such a question? He disliked talking about the past. Especially about his late wife.

Ryou mounted his horse. "I have an idea where Mimi went. The women hunt there sometimes." He looked down at Takeru. "Go inside. I will protect your brother from himself."

---------------

Matt's head swam with the images Takeru had planted there. Since that first meeting with Mimi he had known he loved her. No other woman had affected him as she had, so of course it was love. But had she felt the same way? He had assumed she had, but had she _said_ so? As he tried to recall their three quick, tempestuous meetings, he couldn't remember her saying much of anything—at least not in words.

He dismounted some distance from the place where he first met Mimi and walked silently through the darkness. Already he could hear voices raised in anger. He walked closer until he could hear them.

"You lied to me, Mimi," Tai was saying. "How many times did you meet with him in secret? He told me of how you ran to him."

"I did not," Mimi said, and her voice was strained as if she were repressing tears. "I met him twice by accident and once he tricked me into meeting him. I never wanted to see him. You know how I've always hated him. He does not belong in Draconia. Ken should be king. He has no right—"

"It seems he has _every_ right now," Tai spat at her. "He has every right to touch you, to hold you. is that why you trained so hard, competed so hard? So you could win him and share his bed? Does your lust rule your head as well as your body? Will you pant after him day and night and forget about your people? Will you betray us because of your lust?"

"No!" Mimi screamed. "I am no traitor. I do not lust after him." She was lying and she knew it, but she couldn't bear to lose this man who had been her friend for so many years. He used to hide her and lie to Hiroaki about her whereabouts when Hiroaki was angry with her. "He attacks me. I have never invited his touch."

"Ha! Will you say that tonight when he beds you?"

"I wish to God I did not have to bed him," Mimi said.

"You shall have your wish," Matt said, his voice full of controlled fury as he stepped from the shadows and into the moonlight. He drew his sword. "And you," he said to Tai, "shall die for touching my wife."

Tai drew his own sword.

"No!" Mimi screamed, and threw herself on Matt. "Do not hurt him. I will do whatever you want."

Matt snarled at her. "I want nothing from you." He pushed her aside as if she were an annoying insect, and Mimi landed a couple of feet away in the damp grass.

She watched the men circle one another and wished for a way to stop them. She drew her knife, planning to step between them when a big hand clamped onto her shoulder and made her remain seated. She looked up to see Ryou, a mounted Kari stayed by Ryou's horse behind a tree.

Quite calmly, Ryou stepped between the men, facing Matt. "You have the right to take this man's life, my lord," Ryou said, "but I beg that you do not. Today he lost his betrothed and he has lost her abruptly and publicly."

"There is more to it than that," Matt snapped. "Out of my way."

"No, sir, there is not," Ryou said, not moving. "There is no treachery. Merely two hot young men fighting over a female."

Quite suddenly Matt became aware of what he was doing. He was acting like Gennai always feared he would. He was behaving like an emotional foreigner and not a Draconian. At all costs he must control himself. The scar on the back of his leg twitched and hurt almost as much as it had the day his tutor had branded him. He straightened and sheathed his sword. "You are right, Ryou. Tai, the woman is yours. I will not force myself on her. Take her."

The four of them did not move as Matt turned back toward his horse.

Ryou recovered first. "She is your wife, my lord. You cannot discard her so easily. The people would be so angered they—"

"Damn the people!" Matt shouted. "The woman hates me. I cannot take a wife like that. Tell the people that the last match was not fair. I will marry Sora. Tell them anything."

"And I will be the first to escort you to the border," Ryou bellowed. "You do not come here with your foreign ways and spit on us. You wanted the woman; you wanted the Honorium, and now, by God, you will choose between your country and Draconia. Either your foreign ways or our Draconian ways. You discard the woman and you lose the kingship."

Matt knew what he was saying was true. But to live with a woman who _hated_ him. A woman who found his touch foul and disgusting. A woman who prayed she wouldn't have to bed him.

Matt clenched his teeth. "I will take her but, before God, I'll not touch her until she begs me to do so."

Before another word could be spoken, the sound of horses interrupted them. It was Ken, his pale face almost invisible in the dim moonlight.

Ken glared at Matt. "Our father is dead," he said, and reined his horse away and rode back to Drakengard.

Matt did not look at any of the people around him but made his way back to his horse. He was king now. King of a people who didn't want him; husband of a woman who didn't want him.

---------------

(**A/N:** Sorry for the late update. This chapter's a bit short compared to the others but I just felt like I had to leave it here. I've had some spare time just recently due to my sick leave so I'm taking that as an opportunity to write as much as I can. I hope you guys liked the chapter. From here on out, things will be different, with the death of the king and all. I'd like to thank **PrincessJaded** for always doing the beta on my stories. I'd also like to thank **MimixIshidax** for the motivation. Thank you all for the reviews to the previous chapters and I hope you will kindly review this one. The more reviews, the faster the update. Hearts to you all.)


	7. The Maiden

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_(A/N: Yoshino is from the latest season of the show, Digimon Savers. Matt's three knights are from Digimon Frontier, and you all know Takato and Jenrya from Digimon Tamers.)_

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 7  
The Maiden**

Mimi leaned against a tree, her ribs heaving from her run. It had been a week since Hiroaki's death and, except for the burial ceremony, she had not left the women's field. Over Hiroaki's deep grave she had looked up to see the man who was her husband glaring at her, but he had quickly turned away.

Turned away, she thought with anger, that's how everyone was reacting to her. The guardswomen looked at her with hooded eyes and their whispering stopped when she approached. Three days after the Honorium the trainees stopped obeying her. Yoshino, a high-tempered, vain girl who dreamed of commanding the guard and who had fought very hard to win Matt, had sneered at Mimi with contempt and said that she had been discarded by the king, so why should they give her their respect? Mimi had been faced with ten young recruits, each staring at her with defiance.

Her impulse had been to pull a knife on Yoshino but Mimi was not stupid enough to pit herself against ten strong women. With as much dignity as she could muster, she had turned and left the field.

There seemed to be no one on her side. The guardswomen believed she had lied about not wanting to win and had deliberately knocked Sora down. As for Sora, she lay in her chamber, her body slowly healing, and refused to see Mimi.

Now, as Mimi leaned against a tree, she knew she hated this Yamato who called himself king.

Her anger was so great that at first she didn't hear approaching footsteps. The man was almost upon her before she drew her knife. It was one of the knights who had accompanied her enemy to Draconia.

"Put that away," he snapped. He was a young man, dressed in long foreign robes, and he was scowling at her. "My lord bids you come."

"I do not obey him," Mimi said, her knife at the ready.

The man took a step toward her. "Go ahead and threaten me. I'd love to remove a little of your hide. I don't have much use for your people and even less for you."

"Takuya!" said a deep voice to Mimi's left.

She turned, knife ready, toward the voice. Another knight stood there, a more mature atmosphere about him.

"Kouji," Takuya said in a low tone.

This young man turned toward Mimi. "My lady—" He stopped in anger at the snort from the other knight. "King Yamato wishes you to come to him."

"I have work to do here," Mimi said.

"You bitch!" the knight, Takuya, said, and took a step toward her.

Kouji stepped forward. "It is not a request. Please come with me."

Mimi saw the warning in his eyes, letting her know that there would be consequences if she did not go with him. She knew the time had come to pay for her crime of winning the Honorium. She sheathed her knife. "I am ready."

She followed Kouji, Takuya behind her, to the edge of the forest. A saddled horse waited for her and a pack animal was loaded with what she recognized as her meager belongings. She did not comment on their presumption but rode with the two men toward Drakengard.

She had been isolated since her marriage and had no idea how the Mistheart people had reacted to the separation of her and Matt, but the people soon let her know. They laughed as she rode by and called her the Maiden Queen. They loved the idea of this beautiful young woman, who so many had lusted after, being rejected by the king.

Mimi held her head high as they rode into the walled city then through the inner walls to Hiroaki's castle. Inside, the castle was much cleaner than when Mimi had lived there and she snorted in contempt. Such a waste of time on frivolities.

The knight opened a door to a room that Mimi knew well. Hiroaki had used this room for planning his war strategies. She walked inside and the door closed behind her. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dimness.

Matt sat at one end of the room, the lack of light making his hair appear dark. "You may sit," he said.

"I will stand," she answered.

She could feel his anger, but it was no stronger than her own.

"We must talk," he said through his teeth.

"I have nothing to say that has not been said," she answered.

"Damn you," he raged. "This is _your_ fault for enticing me to believe you wanted me."

For all the man looked nothing like Hiroaki, he sounded like him. Hiroaki never believed any wrong had been caused by him but was always others' fault. "One does not confuse lust with wanting marriage," she said calmly. "I may lust after a well-formed blacksmith but I would not wish to marry him."

"I am your king, not a blacksmith."

She stared at him. "You are not _my_ king. You are a foreigner who, because of some cruel jest of the gods, has been made my husband. There are ways for our marriage to be dissolved."

Matt got up and walked to the narrow arrow slit that passed for a window at the far end of the room. "Yes," he said quietly, "I have looked into that, but I'm afraid it will not be possible. At least not yet, not when the Honorium is so fresh in people's minds." He paused and Mimi saw him hunch his shoulders together. "I curse the day my father met my mother. I wish she had married a serf rather than a Draconian. Always, being a prince has been a grief to me, but this is the worst." He spoke so low that she barely heard him.

He turned back toward her. "I am going to unite the tribes of Draconia, and I fear the Misthearts will not follow me if I set aside the half-sister of their old king's son."

Mimi smiled at him. "Unite the tribes of Draconia? And will you also move the Mugen Mountains? Perhaps you would like them a little farther south. Or maybe you'd like to move the rivers."

His eyes shot blue fire at her. "Why did I allow my body to rule my head? Why did I not have one minute's conversation with you before calling the Honorium?"

"_You_ called it? I thought Hiro ordered it to give all the tribes a chance at the foreign prince."

"Fool that I was, I called it, as it was the only hope I had of obtaining you. I was sure you would win."

One moment Mimi was standing still and the next she was leaping at him with her hands made into fists. "You injured my best friend Sora merely for your lust?" she screamed at him. "You broke my engagement to Tai because of your japing lusts?"

He caught her as she flew at him, his back hitting the stone wall. He was so angry at her, insanely angry, viciously angry, but the moment he touched her, his anger turned to desire. He enveloped her in his arms and his mouth crushed down on hers, and Mimi responded to him, her body seeming to try to make itself dissolve into his. Her arms went around his neck, pulling him closer as her mouth opened under his. Her anger, her despair, her loneliness turned into desire for him. She was his to do with as he would.

Suddenly, he pushed her from him and Mimi went sprawling onto the hard stone floor.

"We must talk," he said through his teeth.

He was panting like a hard-run horse as he looked down at her. A beam of sun came through the arrow slit and lighted the back of his head. "I curse you, Mimi," he said, his jaw hard. "I made a vow before God that I'd not touch you and I will not."

Mimi was trying to recover her senses. "We are married now," she said. Whatever problems she had with his logic, she had none with her wanting of him.

"Then you must beg me," he said.

"I must what?" she asked, rising.

"If you want me in your bed, you must beg me."

Mimi blinked at him. "Is this one of your foreign customs? Do you make your soft women beg? Is that a way to further humiliate them and to make yourself feel powerful? Draconian men need not make their women grovel. Draconian men are _men_."

His anger was back and he took a step toward her then moved away, rather like one did when one moved too close to a fire. "I made a vow to God and I will not break it. Now, we have things to discuss."

"I have nothing to discuss with you," Mimi said, and started for the door.

He caught her arm but released it instantly. "Sit," he ordered.

With a shrug, Mimi obeyed.

Matt turned away from her and began pacing. "However it happened, through what mean turn of fate, you and I are married. I could dissolve the marriage if the circumstances were different, if I were not a half-breed and therefore suspect or if you were not related to Ken. But I cannot release us from this marriage; therefore, we will have to make concessions. Tomorrow I leave to go to the Blackheart tribe to talk with their leader and you must go with me."

Mimi stood. "I most certainly will not."

Matt stood in front of her and leaned down until his nose was nearly touching hers. "I do not trust you to not try to gather an army to put that arrogant brother of yours on the throne. I will have you near me—both of you—so that I can see what you are doing."

"Or is it that you do not want the people to think you cannot take your wife's virginity?" she said softly. She could feel his breath on her lips.

His eyelids lowered. "I can take it all right, make no mistake of that." He glanced down at her lips and back to her eyes. "But I will not."

She moved away from him. Whatever his stupid reasons were for rejecting her, he was doing just that, rejecting her. It was another reason in her long list for hating him. "I will remain here and—"

"No!" he said loudly. "Whether you want it or not, you are my wife and you will act as such. If you do not share my bed, you will share my room, or tent, as it may be. I will let nothing stand in my way of uniting the tribes. If the people want to see me with my virginal wife, then they will see me—and I will be able to see that you do nothing evil behind my back."

"If I put a sword through you, it will be in your heart not in your back."

"I assume that is meant to ease my mind," he said dryly.

"Take it how you want," she said, glaring at him, then her expression turned to curiosity. "How do you plan to unite the tribes? Conquer them?"

Matt moved away toward the window. "In a manner of speaking. I want to marry them to each other so that in a couple of generations they will be so interbred they will not know which tribe they are. They will only be Draconians."

Mimi smiled at him. "And how do you plan to do this? _Ask_ them to marry people they hate?" Her smile disappeared. "You know _nothing_ of us. The tribes would die before giving up their identity. Why don't you go back to where you came from and leave us in peace before you cause a war—if you live that long?"

"And will you return with me?"

Mimi was aghast. "_Live_ in your country, where the women must beg the men for their favors?"

Matt opened his mouth to explain but closed it again. "I will not try to explain to you. Your duty is to obey and nothing else. You are to go with me as I travel across Draconia and nothing else. I want no advice from you nor any comments. You are to be a proper wife."

"A mouse, you mean," she said. "You will find a Draconian woman not so easy to subdue as your pale dolls. I will go with you. What does it matter? I will be a widow by the next full moon." She turned on her heel and left the room.

As she moved along the dim stone-walled corridors toward the main hall, she thought of what a fool the man was. As if he could march into the main city of each tribe and ask them to please stop hating each other. She was right, someone would kill the fool within days.

And as for his not bedding her, that was truly puzzling. Was it that he did not desire her? That seemed a ridiculous thought or maybe all foreigners were as passionate about women as this one was about her. Or perhaps he could not consummate their marriage. She shrugged. Who could understand the thoughts of a foreign idiot?

"You are Mimi," said a small, breathless voice. "You won."

Mimi looked down to see the little son of Matt's brother. She suspected he was younger than his height indicated, and, to her, his pale skin and hair looked like bread that had not been baked long enough. The wall torch made the boy look as if his face were carved out of a pearl.

"What do you want?" she asked, looking down at the child. He was a young enemy now but he was indeed her enemy.

"I saw you," the boy said, his eyes as round as blue meadow flowers. "I saw you win. I saw you beat everybody. Would you teach me to run like you do? And wrestle? And shoot a bow?"

Mimi couldn't keep from smiling. "Perhaps."

The boy smiled up at her.

"There you are," said a voice at the end of the corridor. It was the young man called Daisuke and Mimi's hand instinctively went to her knife, but the young man was merely gazing at her in a way that Mimi knew was complimentary. Her hand relaxed.

"This is Mimi," the boy said proudly.

"Yes, I know," Daisuke said, and smiled. Mimi saw that he was going to be a splendid-looking man and she smiled back at him.

"What is this?" Matt shouted from behind the trio. "Daisuke, have you nothing to do but drool over my wife? No armor to clean? No weapons to sharpen? No lessons to study?"

"Yes, my lord," the boy said, but he gave Mimi another smile before he left.

Young Shin, at the sound of his uncle's shout, had moved between Mimi and the wall, his arms going around her thigh and holding on to her. Mimi looked down at the boy in surprise.

"Shin!" Matt said sharply. "What do you think you are doing?"

"This is Mimi," he said as if this were an answer.

"I know full well who she is, now come away from her."

Mimi smiled at Matt. "If you cannot control a child, how do you expect to control Jun and Koushiro, who rule the other tribes? And fat Junpei?"

Matt grabbed for Shin's arm but the boy slid behind Mimi and she put her body between Matt and the boy.

Suddenly, Matt straightened. "You have power over me," he said softly. "You make me act younger than my squire. I'll not fight you for the boy; no doubt you have bewitched him also. But remember, he is not my heir. There would be no benefit to you to harm him."

"Harm a child?" Mimi asked in horror. "Even a foreign child? You go too far. I have no need to harm any foreigner as you will do yourselves the most harm. We Draconians will tire of your self-satisfied superiority and someone besides me will remove a few heads." Her eyes narrowed. "And that Takuya of yours will go first."

"Takuya?" Matt asked. "Has he tried for your favors?"

"Get your mind out of your breeches. The man hates us and he lets it be known. Now, I am hungry and I smell food. Am I allowed to eat or have you vowed that I may not?"

Matt's nostrils flared in anger but he said nothing. "Come. Eat. Who am I to have a say in your life?" He turned and started down the hall.

Mimi meant to follow him but Shin tried to take her hand. "Draconian warriors do not hold hands," she said, "and straighten your shoulders. How can you be a Draconian if you slump?"

"Yes, sir," Shin answered, and Mimi did not correct him as the boy stood straight.

She smiled down at him. "Perhaps we can find you some proper clothes more befitting a Mistheart warrior."

"And a knife?" he asked, eyes gleaming.

"By all means a knife."

Long trestle tables had been set up in the main hall and servants were bringing in platters of meat and vegetables. Mimi started to take her place toward the end of the table but Matt, frowning, motioned to the place on the bench beside him. Shin followed her like a shadow.

"Shin." Takeru called his son from the other side of Matt, motioning for the boy to come sit by him.

"Mimi will let me sit by her," the boy said, his little spine rigid.

Takeru started to rise but Matt stopped him.

A priest blessed the meal and the fifty or so diners fell to as if they were starving. They were loud as they argued about weapons and horses and who was the greatest fighter.

A quarter way into the meal, two men made for each other's throats, each trying to strangle the other.

Matt, for all he had seen of Draconian tempers, was still unprepared for these outbursts. He was talking to Takeru and did not react immediately.

Not so Mimi. She jumped onto the table, took two steps across it, and launched herself onto the men, knocking them off balance so that the three of them fell to the floor amid the debris and the barking dogs.

She drew her knife even as she fell. "I'll have the heart of the next man who interrupts my meal," she yelled.

The men calmed themselves and got up off the floor. The other Draconians had barely interrupted their eating at the sight of this very ordinary event, but it was not ordinary to the foreigners. Mimi stood, dusting herself off, and met the eyes of matt and his three knights. Takeru stood to one side, his eyes shocked as he clutched his little boy to him.

Mimi had no idea what she had done to cause such looks on the faces of these men. Matt's face was as red as a sunset, the veins standing out in his neck, his jaw muscles working, while his three knights merely looked on in horror.

Mimi sheathed her knife. "The food grows cold."

Shin broke away from his father and ran to fling his arms around Mimi's thighs.

She put her hand on the boy's soft hair, smiled, then bent down, took his shoulders, and held him at arm's length so she could look at him. "What's this?" she asked softly. "Fear from a Draconian?"

"Girls cannot fight men," the boy whispered.

"True, but this was only Takato and Jenrya. They always fight. Now straighten your shoulders and stand tall and—" Mimi broke off because Takeru, recovering from his shock, grabbed his son away.

"How dare you," Takeru said. "How dare you touch my son and teach him your violent ways? He is just a boy! You aren't a woman. You aren't fit to be near children."

Mimi stood and took a step toward Takeru, her eyes cold and hard. Matt put himself between them. "Come with me," he said, looking at Mimi with an expression she'd never seen before.

By now the Draconians had stopped eating to watch this drama. A fight and Mimi leaping across the tables caused no comment, but they wondered what these odd foreigners were doing. Anger because a guard stopped a fight? That was their duty.

"Come with me," Matt repeated, his jaws clamped shut.

"I am hungry," Mimi said, looking toward the tables and the rapidly disappearing food.

Matt's fingers clamped down on her upper arm as he began to pull her out of the room. Mimi tried to jerk away from him but he held her fast, and she cursed him for embarrassing her before her people.

He pulled her into the first open doorway, a small chamber for the storage of barrels of ale and mead.

"Never," he said into her face as soon as the door was closed, "never will my wife behave like that again." He could hardly speak for his anger. "As if you were a common doxy, leaping on the tables and… and…"–he nearly choked—"throwing your body on those men."

Was this man crazy? "That is my duty," she said patiently. "The guardswomen are trained to settle disputes, and as Hiro's representative it was my duty. Had Ken been at dinner, he would have handled the men."

Matt's face was turning purple. "'Hiro' is dead," he said. "_I_ am king. _I_ will settle disputes between my own men. My _wife_ will not."

Anger began to rise in Mimi. "I begin to understand. It is that I am a woman. Do you think that Draconian women are as cowardly and as useless as your pale dolls? I have more spine than that brother of yours."

He advanced on her. "Leave my brother out of this. I am telling you that you will not act as if you were my sergeant-at-arms. You are a woman and you will act as one."

The man was absurd. "I must sit and sew in order to prove to you that I am a woman? Do I _look_ like a man?"

Involuntarily, Matt looked down at her body with her high firm breasts, long round thighs, and that short tunic of hers clinging to her curving backside. For the thousandth time he cursed his quick temper that had made him swear he would keep his hands off of her.

"You will obey me or you will regret it," he said.

"What will you do? Order me kept prisoner? And who will obey your commands? Do you think my Draconians will? You will never be allowed to leave the gates of Drakengard alive if you harm me. And that will be the end of your childish plans to unite the tribes."

Matt clenched his fists at his side. Never had anyone been able to get to him the way she did. He had dealt with his grandfather's stupid sons without once losing his temper. And never had a woman made him angry. Women were sweet, kind things who gave comfort to a man and listened to what he had to say with wide, adoring eyes. If a man went hunting, he was to return to tell his wife of the dangers of the hunt and she was to sigh and exclaim at his bravery. But Mimi might bring down a stag bigger than his.

"Have you no women's clothes?" he asked. "Must you wear such a garment as that?" He indicated her rather inappropriate tap pants with her high, cross-gartered boots. "Don't you have anything longer? A skirt, perhaps? Or a dress?"

"You are no older than the child," she snapped. "What does it matter what I wear? It helps me perform my duties and—" She stopped because Matt had pulled her into his arms.

"Your duties are to me," he said huskily. "You do not press your body against other men."

"Do you mean when I stopped the fight between Takato and Jenrya?" Her voice was slower and lower. She couldn't think clearly when he touched her.

"Mimi, you have done something to me. I do not recognize myself."

"Then I will tell you who you are: you are a foreigner in a country where you do not belong. You should go home and give the kingship to my brother."

He thrust her from him. "Leave me. Go and fill your belly and do not interfere between me and my men again."

"They are Draconians, they are not _your_ men," she said as she left the room quickly and hurried back to the main hall. She would be lucky to get any food. The tables were being cleared and she sighed as she left the castle walls to go outside were she could breathe.

She was walking toward the men's barracks when Ken came toward her. "You were not at dinner," she said.

"Sit with my enemy?" he asked sneeringly. "I hear you are to live with him now."

"And to travel with him. The fool thinks to unite the tribes," she said.

Ken gave a derisive laugh. "He will be killed by the first tribe's territory he enters."

She could feel her brother watching her. "I have told him so but he does not listen. He will be killed soon and maybe it is better to get it over with. Some of the men like him. Ryou stays too close to him."

Ken moved closer to her and his voice lowered. "You are in a position to hasten his death."

She frowned. "I am no murderer. He will kill himself soon enough."

"So it is true that you have gone to his side. Sora said that you wanted him for yourself and that is why you knocked her down in the Honorium. Tell me, does your blood boil hotter for this pale foreigner than it does for your own people?"

Her nostrils flared at him. "Do you think that your sly insults will goad me into murdering him? Then you do not know me. I tell you that he is a fool, and he will do himself in with no one's help. You will be made king and you won't have the blood of your brother on your hands."

"Unless he breeds a child with you," Ken said.

"There is no chance of that," Mimi answered.

"He is not a man?" Ken asked in wonder.

"I do not know. He says he has made a vow to God that—" She broke off. "There will be no children during the short life of the man. Wait and be patient, you will be king soon enough." She turned away from him and walked through the inner gates into the city. It was quiet now, with both man and animals settling down to sleep.

Unite the tribes, she thought. Impossible idea, of course. The tribes hated each other too much to ever get along, and that stupid foreigner would never be able to understand that. One had to be Draconian to understand the Draconian mind.

Oh well, she thought, shrugging, it didn't really matter anyway since the fool was going to get himself killed before long. She paused for a moment. It would be a shame for him to die before she spent some time in bed with him. After all, they were married.

With a yawn, she turned back toward Hiroaki's old castle. Tonight she would be secreted in a room with him and perhaps tomorrow she would no longer be a maiden. She smiled and hastened her step.

---------------

(**A/N: **I hope I didn't keep you waiting long. I was supposed to post this chapter at the end of last week but I couldn't get my thoughts together. I hope you like the read and please review! The more reviews the faster the update. Thank you!)


	8. Gathering the Misthearts

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_(__**MUST READ A/N:**__ Okay, so here are a few things you readers should know._

_I'm not going to go into Tai's and Mimi's past or their family history in the story so let me just clear things up here._

_Jun is Tai's aunt. I've established that. Her brother, Tai's father was king of the Blackhearts. His mother, the queen, died after giving birth to Kari. Jun's husband was the head of the Royal Guard. When her husband and brother were killed by Hiroaki, she assumed the throne because Tai was way too young to be king. Therefore, she's basically just warming the seat for Tai when he becomes able to lead._

_Mimi's mother was a princess who was given away at sixteen to marry into Hiroaki's family to create an alliance between their countries. She was as foreign as Takeru is, with her foreign dresses and princess ways but since she was still young, she adopted the Draconian ways. When she was rejected by Hiroaki, she married his head guard, Keisuke, to make him jealous. They were both killed in a battle the Misthearts ended up winning._

_That's about it for this chapter. Please read and enjoy)_

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 8  
Gathering the Misthearts**

Mimi correctly assumed that her husband was using Hiroaki's old room as his own, but when she pushed open the door, he looked up from a table with a startled expression.

"Why are you here?" he snapped.

"You ordered me here," she said patiently. "You had your insolent knights take me from the women's quarters, with my belongings, and bring me here. I assumed I was to take on the duties of being queen—for as long as I am such," she added under her breath.

He looked at her for a long moment. "I guess I must keep you," he said with resignation. "Go and sit over there and be quiet." He turned back to the table, which was littered with books and rolled papers.

Mimi wondered if he had brought the books with him or if they had been taken from Hiroaki's meager and mostly unused library. She had no intention of obeying him, so she went to look over his shoulder.

He whirled on her. "What are you doing?" he snapped.

"Looking," she answered, then nodded toward the map he was holding. "That is wrong. The Blackhearts' border is farther north. Hiro seized a good bit of the land when I was a child. My father was killed in the battle." She turned away to sit on the edge of the bed and began unwrapping the garters on her legs.

Matt turned toward her. "What do you know of the borders?"

"More than you do, it seems."

He stood, picked up the map, and put it on the bed behind her. "Show me how things have changed. This map was made by Gennai over twenty years ago. Who else has my father slaughtered in order to take their land?"

Mimi pushed off her boots and wiggled her bare toes. "Hiro did what he had to do. Half of the Blackhearts' land is in the mountains where nothing grows, and they were raiding the Misthearts to steal our grain."

"So my father put an end to their raiding," Matt said thoughtfully. "How did the Blackhearts fare through that winter?"

"Not well," Mimi said. "Do you plan to hate everything about us?"

Matt looked surprised. "How can I hate my own people? Here, show me the new borders."

She leaned closer to him and, with her finger, showed him the smaller Blackheart territory. "They are reasonable people, at least fairly so," she said, "not like the Og'rilahs or the Shatterhearts. The Blackhearts—"

"Yes, I know," he said impatiently. "Now show me where the Misthearts' grain fields are."

"If you know so much, why don't you know that?"

He pointed to a place on the map. "If they have not moved, the fields are here. Protected by three rivers and guarded at regular intervals by Mistheart guards. The crops are barley, wheat, and rye. Sheep are raised here on this plain. The horses they have are descendants of those stolen from the Frenzyhearts, and still the young Mistheart men raid the Frenzyheart camps at night. They cross Blackheart country here in the dense forest then go along a goat path here until—"

"How do you know this?" Mimi asked.

"When other boys were chasing a ball in the courtyard, I was hidden away with old Gennai learning the Shatterheart language."

"Shatterheart?" Mimi asked. "No one speaks that guttural mess of theirs. It is not a language but merely grunts and moans."

Matt leaned back on the bed, his hand under his head. "It may sound so but it is actually a form of Draconian. It is just a quicker way of saying the same thing."

Mimi drew her feet up under her. "A lazier way. They are lazy, slimy people. All the tribes hate the Shatterhearts."

"Then all the better to interbreed the tribes. The Shatterhearts stay up in the mountains and they interbreed with each other until their brains are mush."

"Another reason your plan of uniting the tribes will not work," Mimi said. "Who would want to marry a Shatterheart woman?"

Matt looked at her with merriment in his eyes. "An Og'rilah man," he said.

Mimi laughed and stretched out on the bed. The map was between them as they both lay on the bed.

"During the Honorium, I had nightmares about Momoe winning," Matt said. "The problem I have with intermarrying the tribes is wondering who will marry the Og'rilah women. Are they _all_ like Momoe and the other women who entered the Honorium?"

Mimi lifted her head onto her elbow. "The Frenzyheart men might like the Og'rilah women. Frenzyheart men are small, short, thin little men, and Hiro always said they were angry about their size. Og'rilah women might appeal to the Frenzyhearts. Their children would be larger."

Matt grinned at her as he also lifted onto his elbow. "And the Inkhearts? Who shall we marry to them?"

"That's not easy," Mimi said thoughtfully. "The Inkhearts believe thought is more important than food or pleasure."

"Then we should give them some of those feisty little Frenzyheart women. _They_ would turn a man's thoughts from books to more earthly delights."

Mimi was watching him. He was very good-looking and the candlelit room made that golden hair of his glow. She had an urge to touch it and even lifted her hand.

Matt abruptly got off the bed. "You may sleep there," he said, pointing to a seat formed in the think stone walls. It would be barely long enough for her.

Mimi started to protest the absurdity of their sleeping apart, but then she thought that this arrangement might be better. When he was killed—as he surely would be—it would be better for her not to have become attached to him. And it would be better for the succession if there was no child of his who might want to be king. And Mimi didn't know if she could deny her child a throne that would rightfully be his. No, this was better. She would stay a maiden with this man until she was widowed, then Ken would become king and she would marry Tai and have many children.

She rose from the bed. "You say that we travel tomorrow?"

He had his back to her. "Yes, we start for the Blackhearts' land, but first we stop at the Mistheart villages and get men and women."

"For what?" she asked as she untied her tap pants and slipped them off.

He turned back to her. "For marriages to—" he began but broke off at the sight of her half-nude body. He turned away again. "Go to bed," he said in a deep voice. "Cover yourself."

Mimi smiled at his back and climbed beneath the sheepskins that were thrown across the window seat. She watched him as he undressed, his face turned away from her. He removed the tall boots and exposed his big calves. His embroidered tunic, which reached to just above his knees, came off next, and as he slid it over his head, Mimi saw again that big, muscular body that had made her forget her senses, her present and her past, on that day at the river when she had first seen him.

The muscles in her legs began to feel as if she had just exerted them to their limit, and her breathing was deeper and slower.

Without looking at her, he blew out the candle by the bed and plunged the room into darkness.

"Yamato," she whispered into the darkness, using his name for the first time.

He was taken aback but would never admit it. "Do not speak to me," he said loudly. "And call me 'foreigner.' Do not use my name."

Mimi clamped her jaws shut and cursed the stupid foreigner. With his vile temper and his unreasonableness, she gave him only a week before someone put an end to his life. Good riddance, she thought. Draconia would be better off without him.

She turned to her stomach and thought of Tai. It would be good to be a virgin on her wedding night to Tai.

---------------

"Get up!"

Lazily, Mimi turned over in the warm bed. It was still dark. Matt was standing ten feet away from her, fully dressed and glaring at her.

"Are all Misthearts as lazy as you?" he snapped. "The wagons are already gathering below."

"Are all foreigners as vile-tempered as you?" she answered, stretching beneath the covers.

He watched her intently and his pale skin seemed to grow paler. "Get your belongings and come below," he said, then left the room.

It didn't take Mimi long to get her few pieces of clothing and her weapons together. The courtyard was loud with prancing horses and shouting men. Ken, wearing black and on a black horse, was ordering men about. Tai sat on his horse to one side and near him was Sora.

Mimi smiled at her friend but Sora turned her head away. Mimi's smile faded as she accepted bread and watered wine from a servant.

Matt was in the midst of the men, his horse ready to go, and Mimi had to admit that he seemed to be capable of organizing the expedition and the men seemed to recognize his leadership.

There were wagons filled with goods and Mimi saw Takeru and the boy Shin sitting on one of them beside a driver.

"Mimi!" the boy called, and smiling, she went to him.

"Good morning," she said, offering him a piece of bread.

"Do Draconian warriors eat bread?" he asked solemnly.

"Always," she answered just as solemnly, and turned to Takeru to smile. He blinked a couple of times in surprise and smiled back hesitantly. Mimi then went to her horse, falling in beside Ryou as they began to ride.

It took all day to reach the Mistheart villages. There were other, smaller villages scattered about the Mistheart land, but these were inhabited peasants, the lowest class of people, people who fought among themselves, whose family feuds were centuries old. These people had no idea whether they were Mistheart or Blackheart or anything else for that matter.

But twenty miles from the walled city of Drakengard lived the main population of Misthearts. When a guardsman or woman chose a mate, he or she came from these people. The guards were chosen from these people, and after they were trained, they were sent back to the village to watch and protect the Misthearts from invasion. In these few square miles was the only serenity a Mistheart was likely to know. Here, children played and women sang and crops were harvested. Here, fabric was woven, garments embroidered, and here, the sick and old were given comfort and peace. Thousands of Mistheart guard had died to protect this place.

Mimi rode beside Ryou for most of the way but she heard Shin beginning to complain, so she turned back to the wagon. "Would you like to ride with me?" she asked the boy, and he looked at Takeru for permission.

Takeru looked as if he were fighting against himself. He nodded.

Shin practically leaped into Mimi's arms as she pulled him into the saddle before her. For the rest of the journey she told him stories of the old gods of Draconia, gods who fought and feuded with each other.

"Why do you hold this pup?" Ken demanded of her angrily as he reined his horse beside hers. "Do you grow soft toward their kind?"

"He's a child," Mimi said.

"Boys grow into men."

She gave him a look of disgust. "He is no threat to you. He has no pretensions to your throne."

Ken gave the boy a hostile look and rode away.

"I don't like him," Shin whispered.

"Of course you do. He is to be King of Draconia and he will make a very good king."

"My uncle Matt is the king and he is the _best_ king."

"We shall see about that."

It was night when the travelers arrived at the village and the wagons had to be ferried across the river, as did the horses and passengers.

The people, bearing torches, came out to greet them and see this foreigner who called himself king.

Many of Mimi's relatives from her father's side ran forward to greet her. Her status had risen high since she had won the Honorium and married the king.

"What is he like?" they whispered. "Has he given you a child yet?" "Is he as handsome as Tai?" "As strong as Hiroaki?"

They stopped talking when Matt walked up behind her and Mimi saw the eyes of some of her cousins turn liquid. There was a collective sigh.

Mimi smiled at them and even felt a little pride. She turned her smile on Matt. "May I introduce you to my family?" she asked him politely.

Later, Mimi's aunt escorted them to a room in her house. It was a small room and there was only one bed and no window seat.

Matt seemed very quiet.

"The journey tired you?" she asked..

"No," he said softly. "It was good of you to care for Shin. I believe the boy is beginning to worship you."

"He is a pleasant child and eager to learn. Perhaps he is more Draconian than I thought." He was sitting on the edge of the bed and removing his cross garters, and he seemed to be worried about something. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask what was wrong but she didn't. It would be better to stay apart from this man who was her husband only temporarily.

"I assume I am not to sleep with you," she said.

"What? No, I guess not. There are furs. I'll make my bed on the floor. You take the bed."

Mimi frowned and removed her boots and tap pants and slid into the big, empty bed. She lay awake while Matt settled himself on the floor in the furs. The air seemed to be charged and she could not go to sleep.

"The moon is bright," she whispered.

Matt did not say a word and she thought perhaps he was asleep.

"Mimi," he said softly.

"Yes," she answered in the same tone.

"Do you ever doubt yourself? Do you sometimes _know_ that you are right, but somewhere deep inside you there is a seed of doubt?"

"Yes," she said, "I have felt that."

He didn't say any more and after a while Mimi heard his soft breathing of sleep. She puzzled for a long time over what he had meant but could find no answer.

The next morning all the Misthearts were awake very early. They wanted to see friends and relatives they had not seen in a long while and they wanted a good look at this man who claimed kingship.

Mimi stood to one side and watched Matt pass through the crowds of people, and she saw the way their faces lit as he spoke to them in their own language. There was no display of the quick temper he showed to her, but instead, here was a quiet, calm, intelligent man who made his presence felt.

"He is as smooth-tongued as the devil," Ken said to Mimi. "Be careful that you keep your head on your shoulders. Someone must have his wits about him when the fool tries to plunge us into war."

Mimi sipped hot apple cider. "He does not want war; he wants peace."

"What one wants and what one gets are two different things. If we ride into Blackheart land, be ready to fight. Jun will be glad to kill him, since his father killed her husband and brother."

"Maybe Jun is sick of war also," Mimi said. "Perhaps she would like to see her nephew again."

Ken was aghast. "Do you betray your country for this foreign usurper?"

"No, of course not. He will never be able to unite anyone, but let him try. Who will follow him? He means to marry Mistheart and Blackheart. What Mistheart will agree? He'll be stopped before he starts."

Ryou was standing near them, and overhearing her words to Ken, he turned to her. "Look at him. He is surrounded by adoring eyes. They will follow him. Quiet! He speaks."

Mimi watched with interest as Matt stood on a bench and began to speak. All morning she had heard whispers of "Susanoo's Gate," and the people knew that Matt had opened the gate. But she also saw skepticism on their faces. They were not going to accept this man merely because of an ancient legend.

Matt's voice and his perfectly pronounced Draconian were almost hypnotic. Slowly, every sound in the audience ceased. No one coughed, no one fidgeted, and even the children stayed still and listened.

Matt talked of a country of peace and tranquility where men and women could ride for long distances without danger from raiding tribes. He talked of good roads. He talked of sharing between the tribes. The Misthearts could trade their weavings for Blackheart jewelry or Frenzyheart horses. He spoke of an end to the deaths of young men, raiders who stole goods from other tribes. He painted a splendid word picture of the Misthearts traveling safely across Blackheart land and Frenzyheart land to reach the Inkheart people, who could share their extensive knowledge of herbs and medicine. There were tears in some eyes when he mentioned the deaths that could have been prevented if Inkheart medicines had been available.

"We shall _take_ Inkheart medicines," Ken said, but quieted when people glared at him.

Matt said the only way to bring about these glories was to unite the tribes.

"We fight!" Ken said.

People hissed at him and looked back at Matt as he waited for silence.

"The Draconian people must become one," Matt said softly, and the people leaned forward to hear him.

He told of his plan to unite the tribes through marriage, then, before anyone could ask a question, he asked for volunteers, brave young men and women who were willing not to die for their tribe but to live for it. He grinned and asked what noble souls were willing to sacrifice all and marry some of those tall, beautiful, nubile, young, healthy Blackhearts.

Mimi and Ken were almost trampled in the stampede of young people who ran forward to volunteer themselves. Mimi stood where she was, overwhelmed by the persuasiveness of Matt's speech.

Not so Ken. He pushed his way forward to stand before the crowd.

"Do you send your children to be slaughtered?" he bellowed. "This foreigner knows nothing of our ways. He will lead you to your deaths. The Blackhearts will slaughter the Misthearts."

Mimi watched in horror as Matt's three knights attacked Ken and knocked him to the ground. Mimi reacted instantly, as did Ryou and two other guardsmen.

Mimi grabbed the hair of Takuya and put her knife to his throat. "Unhand him," she said, and pressed the knife into his skin so that a trickle of blood ran into his collar. Takuya released Ken and began to stand upright. The other knights also released their hold on Ken.

The crowd had stopped to watch this new spectacle.

Furious, Matt came down from his bench to stand beside Mimi. "Release him," he said to her.

"He attacked my brother," Mimi said. "I should slit his throat."

Takuya, being held by a woman, was too humiliated to speak.

Kouichi shook off Ryou's grip on him. "What he said was traitorous."

Matt clutched Mimi's forearm hard until she released Takuya, then he pulled her toward a stone lean-to where they could be private.

"Why?" he asked. "Why did you ruin what I had to say? The people listened to me. You are my wife, man's helpmate, yet you thwart me at every turn."

"Me?" she gasped. "It was _your_ men who attacked my brother. Was I supposed to stand by and let them tear him apart?"

"I am your king, and when I am attacked it is treason," he said with patience.

"Treason?" she said, eyes wide. "In Draconia you have to _earn_ kingship. Hiro appointed you but we can pull you down. We aren't like your stupid foreign people who accept the son of the king even if he is a drooling idiot. Ken has every right to speak, as does _any_ man, but Ken especially, since he is just as much Hiro's son as you are. Besides, he was right in what he said."

"The Misthearts are ready to follow me," Matt said. "Is it that you and your brother do not want me to succeed? Is that it? If I fail to unite the tribes, the people might want your war-loving brother on the throne. Is that why you work for my downfall?"

"You overbearing _fool_," she shouted at him. "Everyone wants you to succeed, but those of us who live here know it cannot be done. The Misthearts listen to you, oh yes, you make a pretty speech, you almost had me wanting to marry a Blackheart, but if you ride to Jun with those young civilians, she will rub her hands with glee—and slaughter all of them. She would love to weaken the Misthearts enough to be able to take their land. She needs our croplands."

"Then I will ride to her alone," Matt said. "I will talk to this Jun alone."

"And she will hold you for ransom, and to get you back we will have to pay dearly."

Matt leaned forward, nose to nose. "Then don't pay the ransom. If I am held captive, consider that I have not earned my kingship."

"And let a Blackheart hold _our_ king?" Mimi shouted back at him. "We will wipe out the Blackhearts for such an insult. We will—"

She broke off because Matt kissed her. He could think of no other way to make her be quiet, and Mimi responded with all the energy she had built up in her anger at him.

His big hand caught the back of her head and turned her head around to give him better access to her lips, and he kissed her passionately, deeply.

"Do not fight me, Mimi," he said against her cheek. "Be my wife. Stand by me."

She pushed away from him. "If being your wife means standing to one side while you lead my people into slaughter, then I will die first."

Matt straightened. "I have a task given to me by my father and I mean to fulfill it. You may think war is the only way to solve this problem, but there are other ways also. I just pray that these Misthearts get more from their marriages than I have." He turned to leave.

"No!" she said, catching his arm. "I beg you, do not go through with this. The people trust you. I saw their eyes and they will follow you. Do not lead them to their deaths."

"There is only one thing I want you to beg me for. Other than that, you are my wife. You are to comfort me when I return from battle, to see that I have hot food and perhaps someday to bear my children. I do not plan to run my country according to a woman's counsel." He left the lean-to.

Mimi stood inside the dark, cool place for a few moments and tried to settle her raging anger. The man had to be stopped. She knew they would follow him, for they had reacted to him as she had that first day at the river. She would have followed him then if he had asked her to, but now her head had cleared and she could hear him instead of being blinded by his beauty.

She had to do something to stop him. She started out of the lean-to but someone blocked her way. "Sora?" she whispered in disbelief.

"Yes," Sora answered. "Could we talk?"

Mimi was aware of the noise of the crowd outside and she felt some impatience to be among them. Perhaps she could stop the people from following Matt.

"Do you still hate him?" Sora asked softly.

Mimi's anger was too close to the surface. "I thought you believed I wanted him for my own, that I betrayed my friend to get him."

"I was wrong," Sora said. "I was jealous."

Something in her tone made Mimi calm down. "Jealous? You love him?"

"Yes," Sora said simply. "I loved him from the first. He has a good heart, Mimi. He is kind and thoughtful and now he is willing to risk all to unite the tribes. He knows he could be killed."

"And he could take a few hundred Misthearts with him," Mimi said. "A noble purpose will not save their lives when Jun attacks them."

"Perhaps she won't. Perhaps God will help King Yamato as He did when he opened gate."

"What?" Mimi gasped. "God does not protect bad leaders, he kills them and their followers off. Sora, you cannot believe Jun will allow three hundred Misthearts to cross her borders and send them greetings—except in the form of arrows."

"I am going with him," Sora said. "I heard his shouting to you that he would go alone to her first and I am going with him. You know I spent three years as a Blackheart captive and I know a way to get to Jun's city through the forest."

"You will be killed," Mimi whispered.

"It is a chance I have to take because what he wants to do is right. And, Mimi, mark my words, he will try to do it whether I go with him or not. You should have seen him on the way to Drakengard. He rode up to those three Og'rilah boys as if God had put a protective cloak about his shoulders. And he faced Hiroki without a guard, and he demanded that Hiroki give him his eldest son. And Hiroki _obeyed_ him. Mimi, you should have seen him."

Mimi shook her head. "I see him every day and I see the way he makes no attempt to learn our ways but insists we learn his."

"That's not true. He knows our language, our history. He dresses like us and—"

"He dresses in clothes my mother made for Hiro."

Sora stepped forward. "Mimi, please listen to me. Give the man a chance. Maybe he _can_ unite the tribes. Think of it! Think of being free to ride without a guard. He talks of trading goods instead of stealing." Her voice lowered. "And think of trading with other countries. We could wear silk."

"That…!"

"Mimi, please," Sora begged.

"What can I do to help? He can go dancing with Jun for all I care. I just don't want him leading my people into slaughter."

"Go with us."

"What?" Mimi yelled. "Go sneaking about where I shouldn't be and sacrifice my life to the dreams of some fool I don't even like?"

"Yes," Sora said. "It is our only chance. If we can get Jun alone and let him talk to her, I think she might listen. I think the man could talk a mule out of its skin."

Mimi leaned back against the stone wall. If she went with him, it would surely mean her death. No one could sneak up to Jun's city and capture the Blackheart queen without being caught—and tortured.

But what if they won? What if by some twist of fate they were able to get to Jun and allow this silver-tongued king to talk to her? Could Matt persuade her to send her young men and women to marry the Misthearts?

"Think how strong we would be," Sora said. "If we united only the Misthearts and the Blackhearts, we would have twice the strength of any other tribe."

"Don't tell Ken that," Mimi said, and wished she hadn't. It sounded a bit like she wasn't loyal to her brother. "Have you talked to the foreigner yet? Who else would go besides the three of us?"

"Tai, of course," Sora said. "Jun hasn't seen her nephew since he was a boy. She won't hurt him."

"Unless she considers him more Mistheart than Blackheart. Who else?"

"That should be enough," Sora said. "We don't want a crowd. The fewer we are, the quieter we will be. Now, shall we tell Yamato? That is, if we can get him away from the women. Perhaps it's good I'm not married to him because I think my jealousy would overwhelm me."

Mimi looked out the doorway. The sunlight on Matt's hair made him easy to see, but now he was surrounded by pretty young girls who couldn't seem to resist touching this blond king. Matt had that innocent look men wear when they want to appear helpless so they can get whatever they want from a woman.

"Jealous of a gaggle of silly girls?" Mimi said under her breath. "It will take more than that to make me jealous. Come, let us tell him our plan—our last plan on earth—before he starts talking again and persuades a hundred mothers to abandon their babies to follow him."

---------------

Matt's blue eyes almost turned black. "The earth will open up and deliver its dead," he said softly. "The sky will rain blood. The trees will wither and blacken. The stones will turn to bread before I go sneaking into Jun's camp accompanied by two women and my wife's former lover."

Mimi gave Sora an I-told-you-so look.

"Yamato, please," Sora said, "listen to me. I know the way through the forest. Tai is Jun's kin and Mimi is strong and agile and—"

"A woman!" he shouted. They were inside Mimi's aunt's house away from curious ears. "Don't you Draconians know the difference between men and women? A _woman_ cannot fight."

"I did a bloody good job when I won you," Mimi shot at him.

"Watch your language," he snapped, then looked back at Sora. "I will take my own men. I know them and they will obey me. You will draw us a map. Tai may come also if I do not have to watch my back for his blade."

"Are you accusing Tai of—" Mimi began, but Sora halted her.

"I will draw no map. What I have I carry in my head. Meeting Jun in secret is your only chance of getting her to listen to you and only I can take you to her. Tai will go because she is his aunt."

"But my wife stays here," Matt said with finality.

"No," Sora said. "Mimi goes with me. Just as you work well with your men, Mimi and I work well together."

Mimi leaned back on her stool, her back against a wall. She knew who was going to win. Sora had something Matt wanted and Sora wasn't going to give it away for free.

---------------

(**A/N: **Yay! I updated within a week. Thanks for all of your reviews. It motivated me to keep writing. Once again, I base my updates on the reviews I get. Five or more means I update within one week. Thanks again for your wonderful words! Hope to get just as much for this chapter as the previous ones. I would like to thank **im-aredhel** for the super long and insightful reviews for both this story and _Hearts and Daggers_.)


	9. Queen of the Blackhearts

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 9  
Queen of the Blackhearts**

Mimi slept alone in the small bedchamber that night and she tossed and turned, listening for the door to open and Matt to enter, but he did not. An hour before dawn she left the empty bed and tiptoed from the house. She was already angry. The foreigner may not sleep with her for whatever strange reasons he had, but she would kill him if he humiliated her by touching another woman.

There were people sleeping everywhere, but look where she would, she could not find Matt. She woke Sora and together the two of them began searching for Matt.

The sun was high in the sky when the women met again. Sora shook her head. Mimi frowned and went in search of Matt's squire, Daisuke. The tall, dark boy was braiding the mane of Matt's big war horse.

"Where is he?" Mimi asked.

Daisuke looked surprised. "The king isn't with you?"

Mimi was beginning to grow suspicious. "When did you last see him?"

"Just before I went to bed. He yawned and said he had some hard riding to do and I thought—" The boy broke off, embarrassed.

"Where is his riding horse? That big roan of his?"

"It's—" Daisuke stopped and stared. "I thought it was down there." He looked at Mimi. "If someone has taken my master, I am ready to fight."

Mimi let out a sigh. "The fool has gone alone into Blackheart land. I know that is what he has done."

Daisuke glared at her. "My master is not a fool."

Mimi paid little attention to him. "He has yet to prove to me otherwise. This must be kept secret. If the people hear he has ridden alone into enemy territory they will ride after him. We must say he… he went hunting. Yes, and you must go with him. He would not go without his squire."

"I cannot lie," Daisuke said stiffly.

Mimi groaned. "Not that knightly honor again! You can lie when it means preventing a _war_, damn you! Give me four days. If I do not bring him back in four days, there will be no need to send anyone after us. Can you do this, boy? Are you man enough?"

"Man enough to lie?" Daisuke asked.

"Man enough to take on responsibility. You will have to fight those high-nosed knights of his and I don't know if you can do it."

"I can do whatever is needed."

"Good," Mimi said. "This must be kept as quiet as possible. Saddle my horse and I will get a bag of food. Wait! Tell people I have gone with Matt to be alone with him. Tell him I was jealous of all the women yesterday and he has taken me away to soothe me. With such an excuse you can stay here and fend off the people for as long as I need." She was on eye level with the boy, and although she felt much older, she was actually only two years older than he and he had the dark good looks she liked so much. She put two fingers under his chin. "And this will be less of a lie for you. Your master and I have indeed gone off together and you will not know where."

Daisuke did not feel that Mimi was especially older than he was, and to her surprise, he took her fingers and kissed the tips. "My master is a fortunate man."

Mimi, feeling a little confused, snatched her fingers away. "You will behave yourself with my Misthearts," she said. "I do not want half-foreign mutts nine months from now. Now, saddle my horse so I can ride."

Daisuke smiled at her as Mimi left the stables. "Insolent foreign pup," she muttered.

Mimi's first task was an argument with Sora. Sora wanted to go with Mimi, but Mimi wasted valuable moments saying that Sora's absence could not be explained.

"I must go alone. Just draw me a map as quickly as possible so I can leave at once."

Sora began to draw but she argued all the while. "How will you find him? He is many hours ahead of you."

"I will think like a blond foreigner. Do you think he is wearing mail and carrying a royal banner? Oh, Sora, pray for me. If he is killed, it will mean war. The Mistheart people will glorify his memory after his honey-tongued speech yesterday."

"Here is the map," Sora said, then hugged Mimi hard. "I am sorry I doubted you. Go and find this errant king of ours and bring him back safely." She pulled away. "How will you dress?"

Mimi grinned. "As a Shatterheart. That should keep people away. My aunt has Shatterheart clothes in storage and I plan to remove them."

Sora kissed her friend's cheek. "Go with God and come back soon."

---------------

Mimi rode into Blackheart territory cautiously. The old, ragged Shatterheart garment she wore stank so bad her horse had pranced in anger at first and Mimi did not blame it for she could barely abide herself. She had stolen the faded, once-brilliant costume from her aunt's house and dipped it in the muck of a pigsty then rolled it in ashes to get the proper aroma and color of a Shatterheart costume. Smelling herself, Mimi knew why Shatterhearts were the only tribe to be allowed to roam freely. No one coveted anything that belonged to a Shatterheart, although quite often Shatterhearts were hanged for little or no reason.

Under the filthy garment, Mimi wore the green hunting uniform of the guards and an arsenal of weapons.

She rode west, staying on narrow paths that wagons and large groups of people could not travel. Whining, she begged food and water from people in front of leaky huts and dried-up vegetable patches. After a day of travel she began to almost understand why Jun had attacked the richer Mistheart lands to the south.

Late at night, she came to a public house. Candles blazed from inside the little wattle-and-daub shack and she could hear raucous laughter and the clank of steel. She tied her horse in the darkness of the surrounding forest and went to the door. A fight surely meant she had found her husband. She just hoped she had time to save him.

She walked in the door but no one paid her the least attention as they were all watching two Blackheart guards play-fighting each other with broadswords. Feeling a little foolish, Mimi pulled her filthy hood further over her face and took an empty seat at a table. Immediately, everyone at the table looked about in horror at the smell, and then when they saw the hooded figure, they moved away. A skinny woman asked Mimi what she wanted to drink and bade her give a copper bead in exchange.

From under the shade of the hood, she looked around the small tavern but she saw no sign of her blond husband. Along the walls stood several Blackhearts almost as dirty as she was.

Mimi drank her ale and the fight ended and goods and garments and animals traded hands as wagers were won and lost.

"What is that smell?" a drunken voice yelled.

Mimi put her mug down and started to stand. She meant to leave as quickly as possible, but someone put a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"A Shatterheart boy," someone yelled. "Let's teach him a lesson."

A hand grabbed Mimi's hood just as she moved away. Her face was exposed, with her beautiful caramel eyes, long dark lashes, and heart-shaped face.

"Oh," someone chuckled. "A girl."

"And a beauty."

"Let's teach her another kind of lesson," said a man, laughing.

Mimi held a knife in each hand under her concealing garment as the men, about twenty of them, advanced on her.

"Here, now," came a deep voice from behind the crowd. He spoke Draconian but it was an accent Mimi hadn't heard before, very country sounding. A bent-over, burly man with greasy black hair and a patch over one eye, wearing many layers of rags, pushed his way forward. "Don't hurt me daughter," he said, and moved toward Mimi.

Instinctively, she drew back from him.

"Follow me, or they'll kill you," he said into her ear, and Mimi recognized Matt's voice.

She was so astonished she followed him without question and the men were drunk enough and had just had enough excitement that they were sated, so they allowed Mimi to follow the bent old man out of the tavern.

"You!" Mimi hissed as soon as they were outside. "I have come to take you back to safety."

"Safety!" Matt spat at her. "What do you know of safety? I just saved your virtue and probably your life."

"I could have protected myself."

Matt cursed in reply. "Do you have a horse? We must ride quickly and get away from this place. Or did you leave your horse in the open so one of these vandals stole it? Damn, you stink."

"My horse is well hidden."

"Good, then get on it and ride northwest for one hour then stop. I will meet you there."

"You cannot go back in there. You must return to the Misthearts and—"

"Go!" he commanded. "Someone comes and I'm not finished here."

Mimi slipped into the darkness, found her horse, and began to ride. It was against her better judgment to leave him alone back there but she knew within her heart how much fear she had felt when the men had touched her. And, also, she had been surprised at Matt's disguise and the way he had blended into the crowd. In an hour she reached a bend in the river and she knew this was where she was to meet him.

She fed her horse, tethered it in a dark growth of bush, and pulled off the stinking Shatterheart gown, then climbed a tree and waited for Matt. He didn't take long in getting there. She watched him dismount then stand still and look around. He turned and looked up at the tree although she knew he couldn't see her.

"Come down," he said.

Mimi swung down a branch and dropped right in front of him.

The patch over his eye was flipped up to his forehead. "All right, what are you doing here?"

"I told you, I came to take you to safety."

"You? Take _me_ to safety? Tomorrow morning you are to return to the Misthearts."

"And what do you plan to do?"

"I am going to find Jun and talk to her."

"And how do you plan to find her?" Mimi asked.

"If you hadn't interfered tonight, I might have found out where she was. Those two guards were drunk enough and might have been ready after their fight but I had to leave to save your dirty neck. You still stink even without that thing you were wearing."

Mimi leaned against the tree and began to unlace her boots. "If the Misthearts had guessed you rode alone into Blackheart land, they would have attacked."

"What are you doing?"

"Undressing. I'm going to take a bath. Your solitary mission could have started a war." She slipped out of her tap pants.

Matt stared at her with eyes so wide she could see the whites of them in the moonlight. "I wanted no argument," he said tightly. "I did what I had to do. Oh God." He said this last as Mimi removed the last of her clothes and stood nude in the moonlight, her high-breasted figure gleaming and magnificently structured. "Mimi, you torture me," he whispered, his hands going behind his back to grope for the tree to support himself.

"I am your wife," she said softly, then cocked her head. "Someone comes," she said, and flung her body against his. "Hide me from their sight."

Matt, holding her, was stupefied and didn't wrap his coarse, raggedy cloak about her as he should have. He just stood there with his body pressed against hers, his hands lightly on her back.

She was eye level with him and she waited for him to kiss her but he made no movement, so Mimi touched her lips to his. It was all he needed to speed him into action. To Mimi's great pleasure, Matt's hands were all over her at once and he seemed to have a hundred mouths. He kissed her, caressed her, and oh, how deliciously beautiful he made her feel. How wonderful to feel womanly and desirable and adored and wanted and pursued. She kissed him back with all the wanting she felt.

"Beg me, Mimi," he said, his voice pleading.

She didn't hear him at first.

"Oh, please beg me," he repeated in the same tone.

Mimi began to hear him and pushed him away. He was limp with desire and malleable in her hands. "Not in your lifetime, will a Mistheart beg," she spat at him. She turned away from him and walked to the river, glad for the cold water to cool her hot skin. She cursed the man with every word she knew. What kind of animal was he that he took pleasure in making a woman beg for his favors? He should be locked away before he harmed someone—and Hiroaki thought this idiot was fit to be king!

When she emerged from the river, dried and dressed, Matt had a small fire going and two rabbits skinned, speared, and roasting.

"I have supper," he said softly.

"And what must I do to earn it? Go on my knees and plead? Or is begging reserved for the marriage bed? Perhaps to receive food I must bray like a donkey. Pardon me if I do not know your foreign rules of marriage conduct."

"Mimi," he said, his voice heavy, "please do not be bitter. Let me explain that I am a knight. I made a vow, a stupid vow that has punished me more than you, but a vow to God nonetheless and I must keep it. If you would only—"

"Where do you plan to go tomorrow?" she asked, changing the subject. She didn't want to discuss how awful he made her feel: desirable one moment and the next thrust away with all the contempt she had for the Shatterheart robe.

"_You_ are returning to the Misthearts. _I_ am going to find Jun."

She smiled meanly at him over the fire. "I have the map. No, you will not find it on me, even if you could bear to touch me, for I have committed it to memory. I am going with you. _We_ will find Jun and _we_ will talk to her."

"Why didn't I marry a sweet biddable woman?" Matt mumbled. "Here! Take this." He thrust a rabbit leg at her.

"You have made no sacred knightly vows concerning rabbit legs?"

"Only shrews," he answered. "Now eat so we can sleep and leave early tomorrow. We have many miles to cover."

"Maybe," Mimi said, and smiled sweetly at Matt's glare.

She slept quite well that night even if Matt's getting up twice did wake her.

"Wake up," he said before dawn, and threw the hideous Shatterheart robe on her. "That should cool my interest in you." He handed her bread and cheese. "Be ready to ride quickly."

"Yes, oh dear master," she mocked.

They rode for two hours before Mimi told him to halt and follow her down a narrow road leading into the forest. It was a road made for foot traffic and twice Matt hacked at branches to provide room for the horses.

At noon they stopped to eat cold meat pies Mimi had brought with her.

"We should change clothes," she said. She looked at his greasy hair. "A Shatterheart and a… whatever you are, each alone is all right, but we make an unappetizing pair. We will not get near Jun's city dressed like this."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Ten miles from here is the manor house of a rich relative of Jun's. I thought perhaps the man and his wife might not miss a few garments."

Mimi watched Matt's face, and to her surprise, she found herself thinking that the man's good looks were marred by his artificially darkened hair. Now he was frowning and she wondered if he disliked following a plan made by a woman.

"I would have to know where the clothes are kept and I doubt if it will be easy getting in and out of the house. You must swear you will return to the Misthearts immediately."

"_I_ do not swear things with the ease that you do. Sora visited this house a few times when she was a Blackheart captive, and I know something about it. You will follow me and—"

"I will _not_ follow you," he said. "You will remain hidden in the forest until we return."

"We shall see," Mimi said, smiling.

---------------

The stone of the big manor house was silhouetted in the moonlight and the only sounds to be heard were the soft knickers of horses and the clank of a steel sword as a Blackheart guard passed.

Matt and Mimi flattened themselves against the wall and waited, and when the guard passed, Mimi motioned Matt to follow her through a small wooden side door into the larder. Here hung ducks and geese and haunches of venison and freshly cooked chickens and meat pies awaiting tomorrow's dinner.

Mimi cautiously opened the door and slipped through into a narrow hallway, at one end of which there was light and the sound of people's voices. She started toward the light but Matt grabbed her tunic back. He pointed to a steep, dark, stone circular staircase a few feet away. Holding his sword before him, Matt started up the stairs.

It was easy to find the master and mistress's bedchamber as it was the only walled-off room on the second floor. They hid in the shadows once as a maid hurried past, then slipped into the room and went immediately to a large chest against the wall.

The Blackhearts dressed similar to the Misthearts, with cross-gartered boots. Matt pulled a blue tunic of lightweight wool from the chest.

"No," Mimi whispered. "That will make your eyes too blue. They show too much as they are."

"Oh," Matt asked with interest, turning to look at her, their noses almost touching. "I had no idea you noticed my eyes."

"I have a few times," she murmured.

He seemed to be ready to kiss her when the door latch was raised. As quick as lightning, Mimi made a leap inside the big chest and Matt followed her and closed the lid over their heads. They were pressed together tightly, warm body to warm body and, unfortunately, weapon to weapon. Something was pressing hard into Mimi's ribs and she was sure it was Matt's broadax. She did not dare shift for fear of being discovered.

She lay still and listened as the footsteps, one pair, walked all around the room. A maid, she thought, then held her breath as the footsteps came closer. She tensed her muscles to spring.

When the maid lifted the lid of the big oak clothes chest, out sprang two fierce-looking people, both of them going for her throat.

Quite calmly, the woman fainted.

Matt and Mimi, prepared for a fight, looked at the crumpled little woman at their feet and began to laugh. It was the first time they had shared laughter.

Smiling, Mimi began to grab garments from the chest. "Here, we take these and we better tie her up and put her in here and give ourselves time to get away."

They wrapped the maid in one of her mistress's gowns, stuffed a stocking in her mouth, and Matt gently laid her in the chest. Her eyes opened and she looked up, frightened, at Matt.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," he said, "there's plenty of air and someone will find you in no time. Someone as pretty as you will be missed. Just rest; you'll be safe." He bent and kissed her forehead—and just missed Mimi's slamming the lid on his head. He barely got his fingers out of the way.

"Sorry," she said. "It slipped. Are you ready to go or do you plan to stay and become a manservant?"

"Ready," he said, smiling at her. "I'm sure you want to lead."

"The most able should lead," she said with a sniff, and went to the door.

They were able to get to the larder without incident and Matt took two pies on the way out. He was feeling very good after Mimi's womanly little fit upstairs. He had almost given up hope that she would ever show any interest in him.

They made it past the guards and ran, crouching, into the forest, jumped on their horses, and whipped them into a gallop. After an hour, Matt turned off the road and into the forest, reining his horse into the dense growth. They hid there, their hands on the horses' noses, and waited silently. It wasn't long before they heard the noise of many horses and many men riding past them.

When they were gone, Matt motioned to Mimi to follow him and they made their way up the steep embankment to the crest of the hill.

"We can sleep here," he said, and removed the blankets from his horse.

Before they bedded down, they changed into the Blackheart clothes, for the riders would be looking for a Shatterheart and a beggar.

"You'll have to wash tomorrow," Matt said, looking up at the stars, "or they'll smell you as a Shatterheart."

"Perhaps you should have taken the maid with you and left me behind. _She_ was pretty and sweet smelling."

Matt smiled broadly in the darkness. "Mimi, no woman alive is prettier than you, and even smelling as you do, you are sweeter than a hundred princesses together."

Mimi's eyes widened. She didn't know why she had felt so angry at Matt's compliments to the frightened maid or why she had sniped at him like a simpering girl, but it was amazing how pleasant his words were to her. Tai praised her when twelve arrows in a row hit their mark, and Ken and Hiroaki never complimented her at all. Of course men had said she was pretty but not in this lavish, gentle way. If they had, she would have held her knife to their throats, but tonight she rather liked this man's words. In fact, she wished he would say more.

"You… you handled yourself well tonight," she said tentatively. "And you got yourself into Blackheart territory without being recognized. It was good that you darkened your hair."

"You thought I wouldn't?" he snapped. Just like a woman, he thought, you give her a compliment and she insults you. He turned on his side away from her. He'd had about enough of her insinuations that he was incompetent. The woman was emasculating! "Tomorrow you go back to the Misthearts."

Mimi grimaced and didn't reply. This man was very strange.

But the next morning they did not have time to argue. Mimi woke fully alert, her senses knowing that something was wrong. Slowly, she reached out her hand to Matt, asleep a few feet from her. He opened his eyes the instant she touched him and read the warning in her eyes.

To her consternation, Matt leaped to his feet and began to shout. "Damn you, woman, always after me, a man can't even sleep."

Mimi saw that he grabbed his sword as he stood. She also took hers and aimed it for his throat. "After you?" she yelled up at him. "You are a poor thing for a woman to want. I have had lovers twice your age who were better than you."

"I shall show you who is the better lover," he said, and leaped on top of her. "Roll to my right," he said into her ear. "Hide in the forest and wait. There are two of them."

When Matt moved, Mimi did indeed roll to his right, but she came up to her feet, her sword held firmly with both hands, and she positioned herself at his back as she had been trained.

Two men, thieves by the look of them, came toward Matt, knives drawn. They looked hungry and ready to commit any crime to take what little Matt and Mimi carried with them.

"I am your king," Matt said, "put down your weapons. I will share what I have with you."

"You'll not give _my_ horse away," Mimi said, still behind him, watching the forest for more thieves.

"King?" a thief said, and snorted laughter before he attacked Matt.

Mimi listened to the sounds of battle behind her and kept her head turned a bit so she could see when or if Matt needed help, but he was a good fighter, very good. And she was surprised to see that he fought like a Draconian.

One of the thieves fell and Matt went after the other one while Mimi still stayed close to his back. She had been trained well and they worked together as if they were dancing. When he moved, she moved.

She heard the second thief scream in pain, but she didn't turn her head because, just as she thought might happen, a third thief came tearing from the forest, a sword raised above his head and coming straight at her. She parried his blow and steel rang against steel.

"Run, Mimi, run," Matt commanded, and she cursed him for trying to confuse her. She was trained to obey orders but this was a bad order.

She fought the man with all her strength, not even hesitating when his steel cut into her upper arm. The man was frenzied as his sword raised and lowered, and Mimi took each blow on her own sword. Then she counterattacked and began to push him back toward the forest with angry, aggressive blows of her own.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Matt, finished now with his own fight, come toward her, but he stopped and watched instead.

Mimi pinned the thief against a tree, ready to ram her sword into his belly.

"No!" Matt said. "He is Draconian."

"He is Blackheart," Mimi said, but she hesitated and didn't kill the man.

"Here," Matt said, holding out a heavy meat-filled pie to the man. "Take this and take your friends. They are only wounded. Remember that your lives are a gift from the king. The king of all Draconians."

The thief looked at Matt the same way Mimi felt, as if Matt were crazy, and it was good to put miles between them. He snatched the pie and ran into the forest while the other two men, groaning, limped off.

The sun was beginning to rise now and Matt looked at Mimi's bleeding arm then led her to sit on a nearby rock while he brought linen and fresh water from his saddle carriers. Tenderly, he began to wash and bandage her arm. It was a shallow cut.

"I have not seen that before," he said softly. "I mean the way you stayed by my back. Gennai said nothing to me of women who guard a man's back."

"Perhaps he took it for granted. What does a foreign woman do? If you had been here with a foreign woman, what would she have done?"

"She would have hidden in the forest as I told you to do."

"And she would have been taken by the third thief or he would have killed you when he attacked your back. Together, we made an impenetrable column with eyes all around."

Matt was frowning. "I see that but I do not like it. The men should be trained to guard each other's backs."

"Men are the stronger fighters, and quite often a woman only guards, she does not fight. It would be wrong to waste a strong arm merely to protect."

Matt finished the bandaging but he was still frowning. "I thank you for your protection this time but next time you must—"

Mimi kissed him. Her action surprised both of them.

He drew back from her, his eyes dark with longing. "Mimi," he whispered.

She knew what he was going to ask: she was to beg him. Angrily, she stood and went to her horse. "If we are to reach Jun, then we must ride." Every bit of her fury told in her voice and her manner as she mounted her horse and rode away, not looking to see if he followed.

They were on higher ground now, always traveling up into the mountains that formed the northern borders of the Draconian territory and the air was cooler and thinner. They were also off the path Sora had told Mimi about and it was taking longer to reach Jun's fortified city.

Matt rode beside her but she did not look at him.

"What does this Jun look like?" he asked.

Mimi kept her chin up. "I have never seen her and I have never asked anyone about her appearance. She is Tai's aunt, so she is old; she had led armies against Hiro and the Frenzyhearts. When I was a child, I heard she even attacked the Og'rilahs, so she must be scarred from battles. I do not imagine she is a beauty if that is what you are seeking."

"Mimi, can't we—" Matt began, but Mimi urged her horse away from him.

She could forgive much of his strangeness because he was a foreigner, but she could not forgive his flirting with a maid one minute and rejecting her a few hours later. At midday they stopped to eat by a stream and Mimi looked at her reflection in a still pool of water. She had never been concerned with her looks before, only with her prowess with a weapon, but she had seen looks in men's eyes and knew they found her desirable. So why did her husband reject her? Was it because she wasn't blonde and pretty as the foreign women back in his country? Did he only like those kind of women?

At dusk they camped. They did not light a fire because now they were very close to Jun's walled city.

"It would be too much to hope that you remain behind tomorrow," Matt said, his eyebrows raised in question as he looked at her in the fading light.

"Someone must watch your back," she answered. "I thought we would ride into the city tomorrow; I believe we can get in without question. It is good you speak our language. We will identify Jun and the first time she rides out, we will take her. There is a peasant's hut a day's ride back; we can keep her there while you talk to her. We will have to watch that the peasants do not betray us, though."

"Is that _all_ the decisions you have made?" Matt asked in a low voice. "You have not also perhaps decided that I am not allowed to participate? Perhaps I would be too much in your way."

"You are the one who tells me to stay in the forest," she said, not understanding what she had done now to make him angry. "Do you have another plan that is better than mine?"

"No," he said through clenched teeth, "it is the same plan I had except that I was to ride into the city alone but—" He stopped.

"What is the difference whether I say the plan or you do? I think it is good that we finally agree on something."

Matt kicked at a rock with his toe. "You are a woman," he muttered.

"Not enough of one," she said under her breath, and turned away. Winning a man seemed to be easy. All she had to do was outwrestle, outshoot, outrun, outjump fifty or so other women, but what in heaven's name did it take to please a man after one won him?

They slept a few feet apart, and during the night Matt's restless tossing woke her. Instinctively, she moved beside him, and in his sleep he reached out for her and pulled her to him, clutching her to him tightly. He felt so good to her, so strong, so warm, so right. she snuggled close to him and slept.

In the morning she woke before he did and quickly rolled away from him. She couldn't bear another one of his "beg me" talks.

They rode into Jun's city as soon as the gates were open. It was not a rich city and it was very different from Drakengard. Here were houses and tiny, narrow shops and men and women running to and fro. But there was an air of poverty about the place, the city smelling of excrement that hadn't been hauled away and rotting meat carcasses. She and Matt, in their rich clothes, were stared at by raggedy peasants.

They stopped to buy mugs of buttermilk from a street vendor.

"And where does Jun live?" Matt asked.

"_Queen_ Jun," Mimi said, smiling at the vendor. "We have business with her."

"There," the man said, pointing to a stone house butted up against the north side of the stone wall that surrounded the city. It was a large but ordinary house, not nearly as large or as rich as the house where Matt and Mimi had stolen the clothes they wore.

"She hunts today," the vendor said, "and you may see her ride past with her guard. There! The door opens now and there comes her guard."

Matt and Mimi nodded thanks to the man and moved into the shadow of a building as they waited for the queen and her guard to pass.

No matter that the Blackheart tribe did not own good grazing or cropland, their queen did not skimp on the magnificence of her guard. All twenty men who rode with her were richly dressed in fine blue wool, and their weapons were of high-quality steel that Mimi knew had not come from Draconia. Their horses were tall, spirited, beautiful animals that looked well fed and well exercised.

But Jun put the men to shame. She rode in the middle of these handsome, erect men and she was like the sun surrounded by twenty moons. She was tall, slim, and beautiful. She wore a long gown in a foreign style that fitted about her waist very tightly and it was made of rich, cream-colored wool that set off her dark hair and eyes to advantage.

As she rode past, the city came to a halt as every man, woman and child, and it seemed, every animal, paused to look at her. There was a hush when she had left the gates.

"Old, is she?" Matt said to Mimi. "No wonder men follow her. I might follow her myself."

Mimi glared at him but he was smiling in an insipid way at the gate where Jun had just disappeared. "Are we going to go after her or not?" she hissed at him.

"This is one task I shall love," he said, grinning idiotically and not seeing Mimi's angry glare.

They mounted their horses and rode out of town to a low ridge where they could look down on the city and the plain below. Jun and her men did not go far from the city walls as they rode into the surrounding forest to begin their hunt.

"I will follow her and—"

"We will follow her," Mimi said. "We will separate her from her men and then take her. I can throw my cloak over her and—"

"You will follow me and do what I tell you. Now come on. We will ride around the east side and watch her, then take her when we can."

In the end it was Mimi who made it possible for Matt to capture Jun. The queen had separated from most of her men, and with only two guards near her, she was pursuing a big, tusked boar. Mimi thought she was ridiculous wearing that white dress while hunting, but Matt wore an odd expression as he watched her.

"Distract the men," Mimi said to him, "and I will lead the boar away. Jun will follow the animal."

Mimi saw the expression on Jun's face, that sense of pursuit, the elation of it, the exhilaration. Her guardsmen held back, watchful and listening. Their heads went up when they heard a man's cry of distress from behind them and all but one of them left their queen to investigate.

Jun heard nothing but the blood pounding in her ears as she charged ahead after the boar. Mimi took her spear from the back of her horse and leaped to the ground. For all that Jun did not look her thirty-some years, Mimi knew she must be getting old to take so long to slay the pig. Jun stood in the animal's path, then when it ran around her to avoid her, she stuck a lance into its neck. The pain-crazed animal turned and charged toward Mimi, as she knew it would.

Mimi grabbed the lower branch of a tree and swung up as the bleeding boar went tearing past and not far behind him was Jun in her spotless white gown.

Mimi lost no time jumping onto her horse, and in minutes she had the remaining guard chasing her, and it was easy to lose him. She smiled to herself as she rode toward the direction Jun had taken. No Mistheart guard would be so easily lost.

She had a glimpse of Matt as he rode south toward where they had camped last night, and before him in his saddle she could see the white of Jun's gown. She did not seem to be struggling very hard against Matt, nor did he seem to have her bound and gagged.

Frowning, Mimi galloped after the two of them. She hadn't gone far when two of Jun's guard saw her, and Mimi had a long, exhausting ride trying to escape them. It was nearly dusk when she reached the little peasant's hut. She was shaky with fatigue and hunger and she was concerned that Matt had escaped unharmed, that the devious Queen Jun had not put a knife into him.

There were candles blazing inside the peasant's hut and Mimi feared the worst. Expecting to find Matt hanging from the ceiling and being tortured by Jun and her men, she cautiously slipped around the side of the building, her sword in her hands, a knife between her teeth, and peered in through the single window.

She could not believe what she saw.

Matt sat on a stool with an ancient lute in his lap, his hair once again golden, while the dazzling Jun sat on the floor at his feet, her knees drawn up and looking up at him adoringly. A peasant couple and three children sat opposite them, staring at these two lovely people as one would look at a pair of angels.

"Play another one," Jun said to Matt, and her voice was as husky as the smoke from the charcoal brazier in the room.

He smiled at her. "Yes, my queen, whatever you request."

Mimi was so aghast at this scene that the knife fell from her mouth and clattered on the stones of the wall.

Instantly, Matt was on his feet, his sword taken from where it was leaning against the wall, and he was out the door. He caught Mimi before she reached her horse.

"Where have you been?" he demanded.

"Where have _I_ been?!" she yelled back at him. "I have been leading two guardsmen away from you. I have been protecting you and your… your…" She was too angry to speak.

"Jun sent word to her men. I thought they were all told that she wanted to stay with me. I thought perhaps you were bathing before meeting a queen." He looked her up and down. "That's not a bad idea, Mimi. You are dripping sweat."

Mimi brought her sword up, fully meaning to chop off any part of his body she could reach, hopefully his head.

He caught her arms. "Mimi, what is wrong with you? If I had known you were in danger, I would have come to you, but I had no idea. Jun sent her men home. Come, please don't be angry. Jun has agreed to stay here with me for a while and we can talk of uniting the tribes. It is what we want. There is no reason to be angry. Come and meet her. She is intelligent and educated and I find her exceptionally pleasant company. You will like her."

"You certainly seem to like her," she said stiffly.

"Now is not the time for jealousy. It is one thing to be jealous of a maid but you cannot be jealous of a queen like Jun. Come. No, maybe you should bathe first."

She jerked away from him. "So, the smell of me displeases you," she said. "I got this smell from protecting you, but you do not need protection, at least not from swords and arrows. Tell me, am I to bow to this old queen? Am I to beg for her favors as I am to beg you?"

"Mimi, I do not understand you at all. If you want to meet her smelling as you do, that is all right with me. I just thought—"

"You never thought at all!" she shouted at him, and ran away into the forest.

She hated herself for how she was acting, hated the new emotions that were raging inside her. Before this man with his foreign ways had come to Draconia, she had understood herself. She had known her place in life, where she was and where she was going. She had also understood men. Draconian men valued strong, sensible women. Hiroaki had shown her maps and asked her opinion of proposed campaigns, and when he thought her answers childish he had told her so—usually at the top of his lungs. Tai had expected her to be strong and fearless, and the two battles they had been in together, he had expected her to protect his back.

But what did this foreigner want from her? He was angry if she protected him, angry if she kissed him. He didn't want her to ride beside him. He didn't want to hear her ideas about what they should do to capture Jun. He said he wanted her to hide and cringe in the forest yet here he was fawning over a woman who had terrorized two generations of men. Mimi thought that she had done a bit of her own terrorizing today but all she was told was that she stank.

She grimaced as she thought of Jun in her white dress. The stupid foreigner was taken in by her, but Mimi knew the woman's history. She may have said she called off her men, but two of them had chased Mimi for hours. What other lies had she told?

No doubt she had told her men to gather an army and attack and kill this Mistheart king.

Mimi left the forest and went back toward the house. Tonight she would stay outside and guard the peasant's hut, and she would be able to give the fool a warning when the Blackhearts attacked.

---------------

(**A/N: **Thank you again for all the reviews. I cannot express this enough. This chapter is a little bit longer than the others just because it's the first chapter of the second half of the story. Yep, we're halfway done already! Hope you like the story so far, and I hope to read much of your awesome reviews.)


	10. Deceit

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 10  
Deceit**

Mimi woke with a start as her body fell forward. She was leaning against a tree and she had managed to stay awake most of the night, but her fatigue had been too much for her a few hours before dawn.

"You're safe," said a voice near her.

She turned startled eyes toward Matt. He was lounging on the ground near her, looking as if he had been asleep.

"How long have you been here?" she snapped, rubbing her eyes.

"When you fell asleep, I moved beside you."

She straightened, trying to ignore the catch in her back.

"Look," he said, nodding toward the peasant's hut where the plump wife was emerging from the door and scratching. "They are awake and we are safe. I told you you should trust me. Jun is interested in my plan to unite the tribes. We talked for hours last night."

She looked at him and saw the early-morning light touching his golden hair. His eyes were as blue as lake water. "You have washed the grease from your hair to help you talk? Have you found out what she wants so much that keeps her from trying to kill two Misthearts?"

Matt grimaced. "Mimi, please meet her. She is an intelligent woman and I think you might like her."

Mimi realized she was being childish; after all, this woman was Tai's aunt, and she had always loved Tai as a son, so perhaps she would like her. She stood. "I will meet her."

Matt stood also and smiled at her. "You won't regret this," he said confidently.

Mimi kept her back completely straight as she entered the hut where Jun sat on a small stool on the opposite side of the brazier. She looked up as Mimi entered.

Mimi felt that she knew this woman instantly. Jun was a woman who had always lived in a man's world. Mimi had, of course, heard Jun's story and she had often wondered how a woman could gain control of an entire tribe and, even more difficult, retain that control, but as soon as she saw Jun's glittering dark brown eyes, she knew. Mimi saw the ambition and the force behind those eyes. Once Mimi had asked Tai why his aunt did not fight Hiroaki for the return of the Blackheart heir, but now Mimi saw that Jun would not endanger her throne for anyone, even her own flesh and blood.

And Mimi also saw that Jun considered Mimi her enemy. The hairs rose on the back of Mimi's neck as she looked at this beautiful woman, and she wondered what she had that this queen wanted.

"So," Jun said in that husky voice of hers, "you are the woman who left my nephew at the altar and betrayed her best friend in order to win a foreign king."

Mimi's first reaction was to defend herself and explain, but she did not. "Yes," she answered. "It is better to be the queen of the Misthearts than of the starving Blackhearts."

Behind her, she heard Matt groan but she kept her eyes on Jun. They understood each other and it was now open war.

"A maiden queen from what I hear," Jun said softly as she looked Mimi up and down, smiling at Mimi's wearing of the deep blue Blackheart guardswoman tunic and trousers, a bow and arrows at her back. She was in sharp contrast to Jun in her beautiful white gown with a gold necklace set with heavy emeralds lying across her chest. "Perhaps your husband does not desire so mannish a woman. Perhaps he would do better with a true woman."

So, Mimi thought, she wants Matt. "He was easily won and easily lost," she said, then turned to leave. Matt was blocking the doorway, and she had to push past him to get out.

She walked about a mile through the forest to a small stream, then tore off the hated Blackheart clothes and plunged into the cold water to swim and wash the stink from her body. In all her life she had never been so unhappy. Even when both her parents had died so soon after one another she had not felt so lost. Then Tai had been there to take care of her and he had always been there—until now. Now this foreigner had come into her life and made her miserable. He complained about everything she did. If she saved his life by protecting his back, he told her she should have run into the forest.

He made her feel undesirable and unwanted.

She got out of the water and, wet, put the Blackheart clothes back on.

"There you are," she heard Matt say, but she didn't look up at him as she wrapped her cross garters about her legs.

"I have been talking to her," he said gloomily, "and you were right. The woman wants an alliance between the Misthearts and the Blackhearts, but not as I had planned. She wants to marry me. She wants me to put you aside and marry her. If I do this, she will allow the Blackhearts to marry the Misthearts." He frowned at Mimi. "You should not have gone so far from the hut. There is danger in these woods."

"And the hut is safe?" she asked. "I have been thinking that you are also right: I do not belong in this Blackheart land. I should not have come. I will leave as soon as I have eaten." She started back toward the hut but Matt grabbed her arm.

"You cannot travel alone across this land. Any man who sees you will attack you."

"Why?" she screamed at him. "Why would a _man_ attack me? I am a maiden, remember? It is known to everyone that I am not wanted." She jerked her arm from his hold. "Go back to her. Tell her you will marry her. I will free you and the Misthearts will be glad to see the tribes united by a royal marriage. You said marriage was the way to unite the tribes. You can set an example as the first."

He was stiffening with every word. "And you will have Tai," Matt said flatly. "He is the man you have always wanted."

"Yes, Tai," Mimi said, and the familiar name and the love and comfort it made her feel brought tears to her eyes. She turned her head away. "Go back to her. Tell her she will get what she wants. She will have her blond Mistheart king and you will begin to unite the tribes."

"You cry for him," Matt whispered. "You offer tears for this man, Tai."

"Why not?" she yelled in his face. "I have always loved him. I will never love you who talks to me of vows and begging, who does not understand what a guardswoman is trained to do. Go to her. Maybe she can make a man of you."

Matt's jaw hardened. "Maybe she can. Yes, you are right; this marriage will be good for Draconia. I should have thought of it at first rather than calling the Honorium in hopes that—" He paused and looked at her. "I have allowed my heart to lead me so far but no longer. The king of the Misthearts and the queen of the Blackhearts shall marry." His eyes narrowed. "I wonder if the prince of the Blackhearts shouldn't marry the princess of another tribe instead of merely the adopted daughter of the old king."

He didn't stop Mimi's hand when she slapped him. She was strong and the slap resounded through the forest, but Matt didn't so much as turn his head. They stood looking at one another for a long moment.

"We will ride tomorrow," he said. "Jun will gather young Blackheart men and women and we will bring the Misthearts to the border. The marriages will be performed there."

"And I will take Tai then, married or not," she said. "I will be a maiden no more."

He stared at her for a long moment, the left side of his face livid with her handprint, and then he turned back toward the hut. "Do not leave alone," he said over his shoulder, "or I will hunt your down." He walked away.

Matt did not walk far from her, just far enough that she was no longer in sight, and then he leaned against a tree and rubbed his aching jaw. He felt like crying himself.

It seemed like from the moment of his birth he had known that he was destined to be a king and he had willingly sacrificed everything for that kingship. But there was only one area of his life that he had withheld from old Gennai's constant criticism and that was his choice of wife. Matt knew that the comfort of a wife could make up for much unpleasantness in life and he meant to have a wife he could love. That is why he risked the Honorium. He hadn't wanted to offend the people of Draconia but he had wanted Mimi above all else. Except for a few moments during the Honorium when it looked as if Momoe might win, Matt had been sure that Mimi would win—she would win because she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

But that had not been so. She had not wanted him at all, and the night he had found that out he had wanted to die.

And since then things had gone from back to worse. He didn't understand her at all. Every attempt he made to protect her seemed to enrage her. Was he to show that he cared for her by tossing her a sword and asking her to risk her life fighting to help him? That didn't make sense. She went from one harrowing escapade to another, never even noticing that Matt was so worried about her safety that he could barely concentrate on the task at hand. She screamed at him every time he tried to ensure her safety. Nothing he did pleased her.

And now she wanted him to marry someone else and thus free her to marry Tai.

He had been so angry at Mimi because of her attitude about Jun. Jun was charming and had ordered her men home, placing her life in Matt's hands. He had been immensely flattered by the trust she placed in him and he meant to honor that trust with his life.

Then Mimi had arrived and had once again stated that she thought he was a fool and had refused even to meet Jun. She had stormed off into the darkness, acting as if she were immune to attack and could single-handedly fight off an army. He had had to excuse himself from Jun and make sure Mimi was safe.

The stubborn little cat had sat up all night and watched the hut. He wavered between thinking she was an idiot and being grateful to her. What if she was right and Jun's acquiescence had been a farce and her men were to attack during the night? When morning came and Mimi began to doze, Matt knew his instincts about Jun were right. She wanted peace as much as he did, and he resented Mimi's insinuations that Jun was untrustworthy. He had been angry at Mimi for not trusting him, for always doubting him, for always believing he was not Draconian.

Then there had been that awful scene in the hut when the two women had fought a verbal battle that he feared would sour negotiations between the two tribes forever. This time he did not follow Mimi when she ran off into the forest but had stayed with Jun to plead for her understanding and forgiveness. He meant to say that Mimi was young and hot-tempered, but before he could speak, Jun dismissed the peasants so that they were alone—and she proceeded to run her hand up his thigh.

Somehow, Matt managed to control his shock.

Jun was beautiful and no doubt vastly experienced in bed, but he did not feel lust for her. It had been the same when women back home had offered themselves to him. He had been pleased and flattered by the women's attentions, but he had never felt driven to carry them away and make mad love to them.

Only Mimi had driven his senses into ecstasy. Only Mimi had made him mad with the wanting of her.

Jun had whispered to him in a seductive way that she would marry him and they would unite the tribes and they would rule Draconia together and they would spend their nights in wild pleasure. She even mentioned a few things Matt had never heard of.

But she didn't tempt him. All Matt could think of was not seeing Mimi, of not being near her, of not hearing her taunting him. He looked at Jun and her beauty make him feel nothing, and he wondered if he could even perform with her, much less spend all night trying to please her.

He had left Jun and gone to Mimi to tell her she was right about the Blackheart queen, but then Mimi had said she _wanted_ out of their marriage. Mimi, his Mimi, who yelled and fought, had shed tears at the mere mention of the name of the man she loved. Matt remembered too clearly how he had felt the night he had heard her say she hoped he would never touch her. He had made his vow to God then gone home and brooded for weeks.

But when he saw her again, he had been overcome with the power of her. He wanted to touch her, kiss her, hold her, caress her. But she was so cold to him, never trusting him, always against him, while he lay awake at night just looking at her.

And now she wanted to end their fragile marriage. She wanted to get away from him completely.

So be it, he thought angrily. He wasn't going to force her to stay with him, and if she wanted to go back to another man, he wasn't going to stop her. He would marry Jun and he would somehow make himself content.

He moved away from the tree and started back to the hut. He must tell Jun that he would marry her.

---------------

"You are a fool," Mimi hissed. "You know nothing of our ways."

"Can you say nothing else to me?" Matt said back to her, glaring.

They were in the woods before the hut saddling horses and making ready for the ride back to the Mistheart border. Behind them were a hundred Blackheart guards who looked at Matt and Mimi as if they were snake spit. And behind the guard were a hundred and fifty young men and women. Jun had given no persuasive speech to her people but had ordered her guard to gather suitable men and women and bring them. Many of them sported bruised bodies and the women's faces were tearstained.

"Jun will not help you in your plan to unite the tribes," Mimi said. "She hopes to join forces with the Misthearts and conquer the whole of Draconia, and when all is hers, she will turn on the Misthearts. I tell you that she hates the Misthearts. Hiro killed her husband and brother."

"She will have a new husband now," Matt said coolly, "and a lusty one will drive away her memories of a dead one."

"If she does not displease you and you make no vows to God," Mimi said. "You brag of your vigor but I have seen none of it. Perhaps I should pity Jun, but I am more concerned with what you will do to our country. Too many people trust you. And now you are fool enough to trust her."

"Perhaps you are merely jealous," he said.

"Of what? I have been married to you and I know the loneliness of that marriage. Perhaps I should warn Jun that you are without substance." She swung into the saddle of her horse and looked down at him. "You are useful to her now, so you are safe, but watch your back for her blade when she thinks you are of no more use to her."

Mimi rode to the edge of the clearing and turned and watched the Blackhearts as they also watched her. Jun, this time in a gown of yellow wool with a circlet set with rubies about her head, emerged from the peasant's hut and mounted her horse. Matt rode to her side and Jun threw a look of triumph toward Mimi as she extended her hand and Matt kissed it.

Mimi turned away and urged her horse forward. She dreaded the long journey home and she dreaded the looks on people's faces when Matt announced he was setting her aside. It would be easy for him to do. All he had to do was say she was unpleasing to him, and if Mimi were examined and found to be a maiden, he would have no problem in having the marriage dissolved.

But Mimi knew that if Matt set her aside Tai would not be able to marry her. She could marry a lesser man but not a prince like Tai, for she would be tainted goods. But she would not tell Matt that. Better that she had some pride, and if he did not want her, let him think another man did.

---------------

Matt rode beside Jun while Mimi rode behind them surrounded by Blackheart guardsmen, the quiet, subdued Blackheart people in the rear.

Jun was looking at Matt as if she was starving and he was a royal banquet, and he found her stares unnerving.

"How did ugly old Hiroaki breed something like you?" she said seductively, looking at his hair as if it were gold.

"My mother's people were quite fair," he said quickly. "Your nephew, Tai, will no doubt come to the wedding festivities. You must be looking forward to seeing him."

"I am looking forward to seeing all of you. That will be our wedding night also."

"And Mimi's to Tai," Matt said under his breath.

Jun laughed. "She will not be allowed to marry my nephew. He is a prince, the heir to the Blackheart throne. When he is strong enough, he will succeed me. He will not put a woman on the throne beside him who has been once rejected by a king. Why, the girl is so undesirable she cannot get a lusty man like you to bed her. She is a useless female."

Matt opened his mouth to defend Mimi but he thought better of it. He smiled at Jun. "But Tai loves her and she him. They were children together and I think they mean to have each other." He tried to keep the resentment out of his voice.

Jun gave him a calculating look. "Do you care for this woman who you refuse to bed? It is Mistheart law as well as the law of all Draconia that if a woman is set aside because she is not pleasing to her husband then she cannot marry a man of the highest rank. My nephew is a prince and has never been married. Mimi cannot become his wife."

"Mimi does not know this," Matt said.

Jun laughed. "Of course she does." Her face changed. "Do you mean to go back on our bargain?" She halted her horse, and there was much noise and confusion as the people behind them also stopped. "If you mean to keep this woman, tell me now," she said, her eyes sparkling hatred. "I do not mean to surrender my people to some king and his Mistheart bride. Either I am to be queen of all Draconia or I return now to my own city."

In that instant, Matt knew Mimi was right: Jun meant to rule all of Draconia and she meant to do it alone. A woman who left her own nephew in the hands of the enemy would have no qualms about killing a husband who stood in the way of her goal.

He smiled radiantly at her and reached out to take her hand and kiss the palm. He looked at her through his lashes and lowered his voice. "Have a child when I can have a woman?" he asked. He watched as Jun calmed and he realized how great her vanity was. Mimi was half Jun's age and, to Matt's eyes, more than twice her beauty, but Jun was ready to believe that a man would choose her over Mimi. Perhaps Jun's experience and power would appeal to some men, but Matt did not want to compete with his wife.

Jun smiled and urged her horse forward. "We will make a good pair, you and I. Perhaps we will not wait until the wedding night to taste of each other."

Matt smiled at her but the smile did not extend to his eyes. "Tell me how a woman as beautiful as you came to command the Blackhearts." He guessed right in thinking that the woman would love to talk about herself. She droned on with a hundred, "And then I's" and gave Matt time to think.

So! Mimi could not marry Tai and she well knew it.

"Magnificent," he murmured to Jun.

If Mimi could not marry Tai, then she wanted out of her marriage to Matt for another reason, either to give Matt his freedom or because she truly hated him. But Matt could not believe she hated him. She could not react to his touch as she did if she hated him.

"You are as intelligent as you are beautiful," he said to Jun.

Was it his vow to God? Matt thought. Surely she understood knightly vows. Every woman back home understood them. The women wanted knights to make vows to them.

But Mimi was Draconian.

Matt almost halted his horse when he thought of this. If Mimi did not understand his vows, why did she think he did not bed her?

Jun put her hand on Matt's arm. "So strong," she murmured. "We will do well in bed together. There is nothing… wrong with you, is there? You can pleasure a woman in bed, can you not? It is just that wife of yours who displeases you and not all women?"

Matt blinked at Jun a few times. "I can bed a woman," he answered.

"No injuries? Not even in your tournaments?"

"No," Matt said softly. "No injuries." He wanted to tell her, as he told everyone, that he was a Draconian, but suddenly he felt less Draconian than he ever did. He had made a knightly vow to a Draconian woman.

Jun kept talking but Matt didn't listen to her. More than anything in life he wanted to go to Mimi and talk to her but he dared not offend Jun. He and Mimi were two Misthearts amid a few hundred Blackhearts and he was not stupid enough to anger their leader.

At noon they stopped to rest and eat. The young Blackheart men and women, some of the women still crying, were given coarse bread and water while Jun and Matt were served a feast on a white cloth. Matt could hardly eat. He looked for Mimi but she was nowhere to be seen.

After the meal he excused himself as if to make a private trip into the forest but he was no sooner in the forest than he fell to his knees and began to pray.

"You have helped me, God," he said in little more than a whisper, "and now I need You again. I want Your forgiveness. Lord, I am merely a man, a foolish man who makes foolish mistakes and I have made one now. I have sworn to You that I would not touch my wife unless she begged me. But I have also sworn to love, honor, and cherish her until I die. I can't keep both of my vows and, Lord, I ask You to release me from the first stupid vow, the one made by an angry boy, not by a man meant to be king. Lord, I humble myself before You. I will do penance. I will rule this country to the best of my ability and I will even bring the Shatterhearts to You, but I beg You to release me from this childish vow."

When Matt finished his prayer and opened his eyes, the forest seemed unnaturally quiet, as if he were completely alone in the world. Then he heard a noise to his right, a branch breaking, and he went toward the sound.

Mimi stood there, her knife drawn, waiting for him. "Oh, it is you," she said, and wiped her bloody knife on the grass.

"What are you doing?" he asked, smiling at her. He was very glad to see her, for her bloody knife seemed much less dangerous than Jun's glittering eyes and her never-ending stories about herself.

"I have killed six rabbits and I am sneaking them to those farmers." She stood up straight and looked at him. "Or do you plan to tell Jun that I am doing this evil thing? These woods are hers and she hangs poachers."

"I will not tell," he said, still smiling as Mimi shoved the dead rabbits into a bag.

"Why are you smiling? Do you anticipate your marriage to her already?"

Matt reached out and grabbed her to him. He hadn't held her in a while. She was too much temptation to him and he knew touching her would make him forget his vow. "You are my answer from God," he said. "I asked God to release me from my vow and here you are, alone, where I am. It is the answer to my prayer."

She pushed at him. "You are mad. And you seem to have an extraordinary intimate relationship with God. Does He talk to you at night in little voices? Or perhaps you see Him now and again?"

Matt chuckled and held her against him. "I am released from my vow. Mimi, we can be man and wife."

She quietened in his arms then pulled her head away to look at him. "You are to marry Jun and I am to marry Tai."

"You cannot marry Tai and you know the law as well as I do now. Did you hope to help Draconia by getting rid of me or did you just want out of our marriage?" He began to kiss her neck.

"Release me. I cannot think when you…"

"When I touch you? When I make love to you?" He was moving his hands up and down her body, that wonderful body that he had dreamed about. During the Honorium he had thought of nothing else but holding her and caressing her. He wanted to kiss away her bruises.

Mimi had her head back and her eyes closed. "Leave me and go to Jun," she whispered huskily.

"I do not want Jun. I have never wanted Jun. I have always wanted you and only you. Tonight, Mimi. Tonight I will come to you. We will make camp and an hour later I will come to you. You will not be a maiden after tonight. And, most important of all, you will stay married to me." He managed with difficulty to pull away from her. His body ached for hers. Her lips were soft, her eyes soft.

"Do you jest with me?" she asked quietly. "You will lose Jun if you come to me."

"I have never wanted her. Mimi, believe me, I want only you."

"I do not know if I can trust you."

"You can. I swear to you that you can trust me with your life. Now go and give your rabbits away. I do not want to anger Jun's army and get ourselves slaughtered before tonight. Go, my love."

Mimi's confusion showed on her beautiful face but she obeyed him as she grabbed her rabbits and left him.

Matt stood there smiling rather fatuously and thinking of the approaching night when he heard a step not far away. Instantly, he slipped behind a tree and watched. He saw a flash of brilliant yellow then nothing else.

He leaned against the tree. Jun, he thought. She had followed him and no doubt seen him with Mimi. His senses had not been alert when he was touching Mimi and he had not been aware of Jun sneaking through the forest to spy on them. She had been too far away to hear them but she must have seen them.

Suddenly, Matt grew fearful. What would a power-hungry woman like Jun do to a child like Mimi who was in her way?

As silently as he could, he began to follow Jun. As he moved around a tree, he halted then hid. Jun was talking in a secret way to one of her guard. The man nodded and disappeared into the trees while Jun went back to the camp.

Matt followed the guard. The man slipped through the trees along the edge of the camp and watched the people in the camp. He stopped and crouched and Matt moved to see what this man saw. Mimi was in plain view as she moved among the Blackheart people.

Matt watched in horror as the guardsman drew a bow and arrow and took aim at Mimi. Matt did not think of the consequences of what he did; he only acted. He drew his knife, threw it, and sank it into the back of the man's neck.

The Blackheart guard fell dead without a sound.

Matt knew he had to get rid of the man's body quickly. He pulled his knife out of the man, picked up the body, draping it over his shoulder, and ran toward a small stream. He managed to hide the body under a rotting log. After checking that no part of the corpse was exposed, he went back to camp.

Jun was waiting for him, and although her lips smiled, her eyes glittered angrily. "You were gone a long while."

He grinned boyishly. "I saw my wife," he said honestly, hoping to diffuse her with the truth. "I had to soothe her."

"And _how_ did you soothe her?"

He moved closer to Jun. "The way I always soothe women. With my arms and my lips. Is that not the way you like to be soothed? Tell me now so I'll know when we are married."

"_Are_ we to be married? If you spend your time with you wife, perhaps—"

Matt leaned forward and kissed her. He could feel the woman's excitement and he would have been flattered except that he knew she wanted him as a king and not as a man. "Mimi is the sister of a man some say should be king. If she is angered or worse yet, if she is harmed in any way, Ken would raise an army. I do not want us to be killed before we have even tried to unite the tribes."

Jun frowned. "Perhaps," she said, "but I do not like to share what is mine." Her head came up. "I must see to something," she said, and hurried away.

Matt closed his eyes for a moment. No doubt she was going to see if her guardsman had killed Mimi as she had ordered. He wondered what she would think when Mimi was alive and the guard was nowhere to be found. No doubt she would know exactly what had happened or at least she would suspect.

How right Mimi had been, Matt thought with a sickness in his stomach. She had warned him from the beginning of Jun's treachery, but he had been so sure that he had known what he was doing that he had gone alone into Blackheart land. Now his own life and Mimi's were in danger. They were sitting in the midst of their enemy and leading them toward the unsuspecting Misthearts.

Mimi was right: Matt had led them to this by his arrogance and superiority.

Now he had to get them out of this. He had to quell Jun's suspicions long enough to get them closer to Mistheart land, and then he and Mimi could escape. Or perhaps he could somehow hold off Jun until after the Misthearts and Blackhearts had married, but however he did it, he must make Jun think he wanted her if he was to keep Mimi safe.

His insides clutched together. And that meant he could not meet Mimi tonight and spend the night with her. He had to stay within sight of Jun or she might send someone else to kill Mimi.

Wearily, Matt mounted his horse. It was time to ride.

---------------

(**A/N: **So sorry for the delay. I couldn't come up with much lately. This chapter's a little shorter but that just means I can get started on the next one. I still expect my regular minimum of five reviews though. If I don't get it, then I'm afraid there will be no updates. But there haven't been any problems with that so no worries. Thanks for all the support. Looking forward to reading your awesome reviews. Kudos to Diane and im-aredhel for their super long reviews.)


	11. Marriages

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 11  
Marriages**

Mimi made sure Matt saw her leave the camp that night and she did not go far, but he did not come to her. She moved to sit where she could watch Jun's tent. Matt had entered but he had not left.

She tried to control her rage by telling herself that she never expected him to keep his word, but it didn't help her much. At dawn her eyes were red and her heart felt as if it had turned to stone.

She mounted her horse to ride and twice she felt Matt's eyes on her, but she didn't look at him.

At midday she saw Matt dancing attendance on Jun, popping a morsel of bread in her mouth. When Matt looked up and saw Mimi, she turned away.

That night was their last night before reaching Mistheart land. Mimi tried to keep her mind empty of thoughts as she settled into her blankets to sleep. She was awakened in the middle of the night by one hand held over her mouth and another one clamped on her right hand, in which she already held her knife.

"It is me," Matt said into her ear.

Mimi increased her struggles and was pleased when she heard a painful exhale of breath from Matt, but the next moment she lost consciousness as Matt's fist clipped her jaw.

She woke to find herself lying on the bank of a stream, Matt pressing a cold cloth to her face. She started to rise but he pushed her back to the ground.

"Mimi, please be quiet. Does your head hurt?"

"From your soft blow?" she asked, lying, for her head was pounding. "What do you plan to do now? Rid yourself of me permanently? Perhaps your beloved Jun has decided I am too much of a risk."

"Yes, she has," Matt said solemnly. "She saw us together yesterday and she sent one of her guard to follow you. He had an arrow aimed at you when I sank a knife into the back of his neck."

Mimi blinked at him in the darkness.

"I could not come to you last night," he continued, "for she had me watched."

"So you stayed and fed her and kissed her and—"

Matt kissed her mouth to keep her from talking, as his hand moved down to her breast. "I have a plan," he murmured, his mouth against her neck. "I am going to take Jun to Hiroki. I think they might like each other."

He had untied her belt and was easing her tunic over her head. "Jun's army fought Hiroki's once and Jun won," Mimi said, but her mind wasn't on her words. "Do not do this to me," she whispered.

"Mimi," he whispered, "don't you realize that I love you?"

"Love?" she asked startled. "If this pain is love, give me hate."

Matt pulled her tunic over her head and began to kiss her breasts and suck at her nipples. He knew he could be missed at any moment; that Jun might wake and see that the cot she had placed near hers in the tent was empty, and she would send her guard searching for him. But right now his need to give to Mimi overcame his fear.

Mimi cried out in pain as he first entered her. She was a virgin and tight with anger, as well as being hindered by her trousers pinning her legs together. She pushed at him but he seemed oblivious to her pain.

There were tears in her eyes when he finally collapsed on her body.

"Get off me," she said, shoving at his shoulders.

He drew back, rolling off of her as he adjusted his clothes and Mimi angrily pulled hers on.

"Mimi," he said, "it will be better."

"It could not be worse," she snapped, her voice strained. The lower half of her body ached with pain. "Had I known what this was like, I would have given you to Jun at sword point."

"Damn you!" he said fiercely as he stood. "I have risked both our lives by coming to you tonight and now you are no longer a maiden. I will not marry Jun." He bent and grabbed her chin in his hand. "I swear that I will make you love me, Mimi. If I have to chain you to me, you will love me and you will enjoy what we did tonight."

"Never," she said, looking up at him with fury in her eyes.

They didn't speak as Mimi adjusted her clothes and went back to the camp, Matt not far behind her. She didn't sleep much that night, and the next morning she was so sore, it hurt to sit on her horse. She watched Matt with Jun with much less concern than she had the day before.

It was late in the day when they reached the river that was the border to the Mistheart land. Mimi waited, surrounded by Blackhearts, while Matt came toward her.

"We will cross the river alone while the Blackhearts wait here," he said without softness.

Mimi answered him in kind with a cool nod and urged her horse ahead to follow him. They rode alone together without speaking as they forded the river. Just on the south side, they were met by a group of angry Misthearts who surrounded these trespassers wearing the Blackheart clothes. But as soon as they saw Matt's golden hair, they lifted their swords in salute and rode with them toward the Mistheart village.

It was night when they reached the village and, tiredly, Mimi slipped from the saddle.

"Come with me," Matt said, grabbing her arm.

"I am hungry and—"

"You can eat later, now I must meet with my men."

"Your knights are probably sleeping by now."

"My _Draconian_ men," Matt emphasized, pulling her with him.

Tai was just coming out of a stone house, his broad, muscular chest bare, and Mimi would have run to him if Matt hadn't kept such a fierce grip on her arm.

"Follow me," Matt commanded Tai, and then kept walking as if he expected to be obeyed. When he saw Sora, he ordered her to follow him also. He led the three of them into Mimi's aunt's house.

By now the village was beginning to waken but Matt told Mimi's family to go back to their beds. He lit a candle in the farthest room of the stone house and turned to Mimi, Sora, and Tai, who were seated.

"I have Jun and a hundred and fifty Blackhearts waiting for me across the river," Matt said. "I have brought them here to marry with the Misthearts. Jun agrees to marry her tribe to the Misthearts but only on the condition that she marry the king."

Sora's eyes opened wide as she looked at Mimi, who was studying her hands in her lap.

Tai was on his feet instantly. "I will take Mimi. I will rule the Blackhearts and she will be my queen."

Mimi smiled at him gratefully.

Matt put himself between the two of them and looked Tai in the eyes. "I will not marry Jun. I will not set aside Mimi." His brows drew together. "Mimi is no longer a maiden and I will not discard her."

Tai sat down on a stool near Sora and he looked despondent.

Matt walked away. "I think I can put Jun off until some of the marriages take place, then I will take her to Hiroki and he can marry her."

"You want to marry my aunt to that brutal, scarred old man?" Tai shot at Matt.

Sora put her hand on Tai's arm. "Hiroki has a wife. She was twelve last year. He won't give up his child for a woman of Jun's years." She thought for a moment. "But Koushiro has no wife," she said, referring to the leader of the Frenzyhearts.

"He must be lusty and _very_ healthy to satisfy that woman," Matt said.

"My aunt is a queen," Tai said. "You cannot order her to marry one of those Frenzyheart runts."

"Your aunt ordered Mimi's death," Matt said, and then his jaw tightened as he saw the fury in Tai's face. He turned away. "I am taking Jun to this Frenzyheart leader and I need help."

Mimi looked up at this. Was this the same man who rode into Blackheart country alone?

"I am going to have to take her by force, but I must make it look as if she is willing to go. I cannot start a war because of this woman. She has strength and that strength must be diluted."

"She might unite with Koushiro against the Misthearts," Sora said.

"But I hope to have the Misthearts and Blackhearts mixed at that point," Matt said tiredly. "She may well have a much smaller army to lead by then. She has come with her guard, and I hope some of the Mistheart trainee guardswomen will marry them. A man will think twice before angering his wife—as I well know." He rubbed his hands over his eyes. "Tai, I want you and Sora to go with Mimi and me as I take Jun into Frenzyheart land."

Sora looked at Mimi. "You want two women with you?" Sora asked.

"Tai and I need our backs protected," he snapped, and then his head came up.

Sora smiled at him. "Yes, I understand. I will go with you, but will Koushiro accept us? Or do we wear disguises?"

"I plan to send a messenger, an Inkheart or Shatterheart. I will tell Koushiro that I bring him a royal bride."

Before anyone could speak, the door burst open and in ran Takeru, looking handsome in an embroidered tunic of deep garnet-red velvet, his fair hair wispy. "Matt," he cried out, and ran towards him. "Shin and I were worried about you. Daisuke said you had gone for a love tryst but I knew that wasn't so. What have you done? Are you hurt?"

Matt was smiling tenderly at his brother as he ruffled his short wispy hair. "I went into Blackheart territory and I have brought back Jun and her people to marry the Misthearts. You shouldn't have worried so."

"I couldn't help it. You had to do something like that alone with no one to help you and you had the added burden of a woman to protect."

Mimi came out of her seat at that, but Matt spoke first.

"Mimi was no hindrance," he said, and put an arm around Takeru as he looked over his shoulder at Mimi. "She even helped me at times."

"Uncle Matt?"

Everyone in the room turned to look at a sleepy Shin, dressed in his long white gown and nightcap, standing in the doorway and rubbing his eyes. "You are home," the boy said.

Matt knelt to open his arms to his nephew.

Shin started toward his uncle, but when he saw Mimi sitting to one side, he smiled and went to her. She picked up the boy and cradled him in her arms. He smiled and fell asleep.

"Wait a m—" Takeru began, but Matt stopped him.

"Let him be," Matt said. "I for one would like to go to bed. We shall make plans in the morning." He started to take his nephew from Mimi but she held the boy fast.

"He will stay with me tonight," Mimi said as if daring Matt to contradict her.

Anger showed in his eyes because he knew Mimi did not want to spend the night in his bed. He straightened and left the room, pulling Takeru with him.

Sora went to Mimi. "I see that things have not changed with you two. I had hoped…"

"There is no use to hope. He is not Draconian and he will never learn our ways."

"Hmmm," Sora said. "Before he left he wanted no woman with him, but now he wants two women to guard the backs of the men. It seems that he is learning some of our ways."

Mimi stood, carefully holding Shin so as not to wake him. "Do you have a place the child and I can sleep? Tomorrow the Misthearts will meet Jun and everyone will need strength for that."

Sora nodded and led her friend to another house where a bed awaited her.

Mimi woke in the morning to Matt roughly shaking her. "I am leaving now to get Jun and the Blackhearts. As my wife you must be there to see them marry."

"And see the beginning of their misery," Mimi mumbled, holding on to Shin as the boy began to wake.

Matt left her alone while she dressed. Takeru came to get Shin and did not speak to Mimi.

As soon as Mimi left the stone house, she felt the tension in the air. There was no one in sight and the village had a strange deserted air about it, as if God had decided to take all the people away with Him to heaven. Mimi took a piece of bread from a table and ate it as she walked toward the river.

What she saw was an eerie sight. All the Misthearts, freshly washed and in clean clothes, were lined up along the riverbank. No one was speaking, not even a child was crying or a dog barking as they watched the arrival of the Blackheart men and women.

The Blackhearts rode horseback, sometimes double, or came in wagons or little carts. Mimi had seen them crying for nearly a week at the hideous prospect of having to marry the Misthearts, but there were no tearstained faces now. The Blackhearts were also washed, their clothes still damp from cleaning, their hair slicked back from early-morning bathing. They sat erect on their horses or wagons and they were looking intently at the people standing across the river.

Mimi moved forward to stand just at the back of the Misthearts.

"See the one in the third wagon," a woman near Mimi whispered. "If I were choosing, I would choose him."

"No," a younger woman whispered, "the one I want is there on that black horse. See his calves? There is strength in that body."

Smiling, Mimi began to walk along the back of the long row of people. The people were beginning to talk and all the talk was of bedding.

Mimi thought the day seemed to be growing warmer than usual. For some reason, she began to remember vividly that day she had first met Matt, that day when she had been wearing only her tunic and he had worn only a loincloth. She had sat on his chest and his hands had traveled up her legs, up toward her breasts. And his mouth had—

"Mimi!"

She came out of her daze to turn and look at Sora. "You are far away," Sora said softly. "And who would you choose?"

Mimi looked at the people now fording the river. Matt rode beside Jun. A few weeks ago she had hated his blond hair but now he stood out like a single star in a black sky. He not only had different clothing but he was broader and thicker than the Draconians. Once she had thought him fat and ungraceful, but she knew his body to be the product of years of muscle-building exercise and that there was no fat on him. She also knew how his skin felt under her fingertips.

Sora's laugh made Mimi blink.

"He may displease you elsewhere but he does not displease you in bed," Sora said knowingly.

Mimi turned away. "He is a clumsy oaf," she said, but she felt damp with perspiration. "Has food been prepared for these people? We have had a long march and they are hungry and tired."

"Yes," Sora said, laughing. "They look as hungry as our people. Yamato says the tribes are to spend the day together and near sundown we will choose mates."

"We?" Mimi asked. "You plan to marry tonight too?"

"If I see someone I like. There are a few guardsmen who look interesting, but I want to go with Yamato to Koushiro and I do not relish leaving a new husband behind. Come, let's get these people to work. The morning fires haven't been lit."

Mimi was glad for the distraction. She did not want Matt to see her watching him, and when he rode past she was ushering people away from the river and toward the houses.

It was a strange day. Never before had Blackhearts and Misthearts spent time together in peace. There had been conferences between leaders, even, once, it was told, generations ago, the Blackhearts, the Misthearts, and the Frenzyhearts had united to fight an invading army. But at the end of the battle the Frenzyheart king's son had killed the Blackheart king's brother and their victory had turned into a bloody battle among themselves, with the tribes of Draconia hating one another with renewed rage.

Now there were both tribes together in the Mistheart village. It was awkward at first, with the Blackhearts standing in a clump together, watching, a little afraid, not knowing what to do. The Mistheart women were beginning to cook while the men stood guard behind them protectively.

"This has to stop," Mimi heard Takeru say. He was not far away, near Matt, as always. "Matt, we have to do something about this. We have to get these people together."

Matt looked up and met Mimi's eyes. His blue eyes were dark, the lids heavy looking, and Mimi could feel her body once again growing warmer.

"Mimi will help you," Matt said.

Takeru grimaced. He had wanted to spend some time with Kari. "Perhaps Hikari will—"

"_Mimi_ will help you," Matt emphasized.

Mimi didn't like being forced to do her brother-in-law's bidding, but she knew Takeru was right, that something had to be done. She doubted that a soft thing like Takeru could help the situation but perhaps she herself could think of something.

An hour later, Mimi revised her opinion of Takeru. He was organizing and ordering people about with the authority of the toughest captain of the guard. He sent Blackheart women to help the Mistheart women cook. He sent the Blackheart men and Mistheart men out to get firewood. And when she saw a handsome young male Blackheart and a pretty young female Mistheart staring at one another, he sent them fishing—without poles or hooks.

"But how will they catch fish?" Mimi asked.

Takeru looked at his sister-in-law, a soft smile playing across his lips.

Mimi began to laugh then leaned toward Takeru and said conspiratorially, "That trainee, the one with the red border on her tunic, the one who fought so hard for Yamato, might like that Blackheart guard, the one there near Jun."

"Oh?" Takeru asked. "That one?" He pointed.

"I've seen better," Mimi replied. "About a three-hour walk up that mountain are some very sweet berries. I think they need collecting."

Mimi smiled happily when she saw the little cat of a trainee go off with the handsome Blackheart guard.

After that, Takeru and Mimi began to relax together. Mimi's life had been so different from Takeru's. Mimi had spent her time with men, doing men's things. She knew how to sharpen a lance blade to a razor-sharp edge but she knew nothing of cooking and running a household. Whereas Takeru had known only the gentler aspects of life, being as sickly as he was, and when he was terrorized by his fat cousins, he went to Matt. Mimi would have removed the skin of any man who tortured her.

As the two talked together, Mimi began to enjoy herself. Old Hiroaki would have sneered with contempt if Mimi had even mentioned romance, but Takeru seemed to glow in the romance of their matchmaking.

Mimi was staring vacantly into space and thinking that it might be nice to be courted by a man. Tai had given her twenty new arrows when he had asked her to marry him. At this moment she thought she would rather have flowers.

"We'll have Matt play his lute and sing tonight," Takeru said. "He sings very beautifully."

"Play? Sing?" Mimi asked. "Oh, yes, he played for Jun."

Takeru gave Mimi a sharp look. "He has not played his lute for you? He has not sung you love songs in the moonlight?"

"He said once I was prettier than a maid we had seen."

Takeru was quiet for some time as he studied Mimi. "Perhaps I have misjudged you. Why did you not want to marry my brother?"

"Sora was meant to be queen. She will make a better queen than I ever will."

Takeru put a hand on Mimi's shoulder. "I'm not so sure of that."

They did not hear the approach of Matt. "You two look as if you are enjoying yourselves," Matt said in that special, superior way that men have when they are amusing themselves.

Takeru whirled to face him. "Your wife risked her life to win you and you have not so much as played your lute for her," he spat at his brother. "Yet you played it for that Jun. Look at her. She sits there surrounded by the most handsome men and you court her as if you planned to marry her. You should beg your wife's forgiveness. If I were you, I would have showered her with all the love that a beautiful woman like her deserves. Come, Mimi, let's go."

Mimi allowed herself to be pulled away by Takeru and she felt good, oh, very, very good. This Takeru carried weapons around with him too. His weapon of words made Mimi look at him with a new respect.

By late midday there was a feast spread on long tables in the center courtyard of the village and the atmosphere was one of excitement and laughter. The sense of anticipation was overwhelming. The children, sensing that something was about to happen, were screaming and laughing and chasing each other, and no one paid them any mind except to keep them from falling into cauldrons of soup. The Mistheart adults watched fondly as the young people eyed one another and giggled senselessly if they should happen to touch.

And there was a lot of touching that day. Girls bent over boys so their breasts touched shoulders. Boys reached for things and their elbows "accidentally" came into contact with breasts. Everyone dropped everything so that there was much bending together, or one bending and coming up slowly to look long at the body of another. There was teasing and laughing and playful slaps, and by the time the feast was ready, everyone was warm from more than the sun.

"Are you available?" asked a tall, healthy, extraordinarily handsome young Blackheart guard of Mimi. "If our queen marries your king, you will be free." He leaned close to her to whisper and his breath was on her neck. "I can make you forget that man."

Mimi smiled at him, her lips close to his.

But before she could answer, Matt grabbed her arm and pulled her away. "What are you doing? I thought you were with Takeru."

"And _you_ were with Jun. Have you planned your marriage ceremony?"

He had her by the arm and was pulling her toward her aunt's house. "We must talk." Once they were secluded in a room, Matt turned to her. "I have told Jun I cannot put you aside until after the marriages tonight. My God, but I hate lying. I will do penance for this. I think I may have a temporary solution to our problems: your brother."

"Ken? What has he to do with this?"

"While you have been matching one lust-filled wench with an equally lust-filled male, I have been observing. Your brother is taken with Jun. I don't know if her beauty interests him or her power. For all I know he plans to join with her and slaughter me. No! Don't protest. It is only conjecture. I want you to tell me if you think he could interest a woman of Jun's appetites."

It took Mimi a moment to understand what he was asking. "Do you mean is my brother a _man_?" she said through closed teeth. "Can he give pleasure to a woman? More than you can," she half yelled. "He has had many women and none of them have complained."

Matt looked shocked. "Mimi, what—" he began, then stopped and stared at her. After a moment, he turned away. "For once, let us not fight. I have told Jun I will not bed her tonight but the woman is… persistent. I thought I might do well to supply her with some eager young man."

"You control too much," Mimi said.

He looked back at her. "I can perhaps control a country but I do not think I can control my wife. Tonight there will be a… a strain in the air. There will be many couples in the midst of their wedding nights and Jun will cause trouble if she is not occupied." He stopped suddenly. "This is my concern. I will go find your brother."

When he had left the room, Mimi sat down heavily on a stool in a darkened corner. What had started off well between them that first meeting by the water, had now turned to this.

She did not look up when the door was opened. "Mimi," Takeru said softly, but Mimi did not look up.

Takeru looked at the proud Mimi slumped in a corner and guilt overwhelmed him. He had not welcomed this woman as Matt's wife, had made no effort to understand her Draconian ways. But while Matt and Mimi had been away, he had spent time with Sora and he had heard the truth of what had happened at the Honorium. Mimi had tried to make it so that Sora could win, but Sora had fainted and Mimi had won by default.

Takeru had sought out Tai and asked him about Ken and Mimi and realized that Mimi had reasons to believe Matt should not be king. Mimi knew nothing of how Matt had trained nearly all his life in order to be a good king.

And Takeru had wormed from Sora the truth about where Matt and Mimi had gone. He had fretted and worried while they were gone, angry at Mimi for being a burden to Matt. But then he had returned, both of them safe, and Matt had even said that Mimi helped him. Later Takeru had made Matt tell him how Mimi had protected his back.

Takeru's opinion of Mimi had changed. And then, of course, there was Shin's adoration of Mimi. The boy followed her everywhere and Mimi never lost patience with his questions, was never curt with him.

Then Matt had forced his brother to spend the day with his wife and Takeru found himself liking Mimi. Mimi seemed to have none of the jealousies that the women Takeru had known did. Mimi ignored the way Matt hovered near Jun, the way he smiled at the woman, even the way he looked at the pretty Blackheart and Mistheart women.

While he and Mimi had been matching couples and contriving ways for them to be alone, Takeru had thought of matching Matt and Mimi. Of course they were already married, but she had seen no evidence that they shared any secrets or intimacies. They had gone away together as strangers and returned as strangers.

As the day was drawing to a close and the couple were pairing themselves off in preparation for the mass marriages, Takeru saw Matt angrily pull Mimi away from the crowd. It was not the gesture of a lover but the act of an angry father with a wayward, defiant child.

Takeru's matchmaking qualities came to the surface. He found Ryou and told him to have Matt's campaign tent erected five miles down the river, away from everyone else, in a quiet, secluded place. Then Takeru had waited until he saw Matt storming out of the stone house and he had gone to find Mimi, Kari following behind him. He had asked Kari to stay outside for Mimi felt awkward around her, she being Tai's sister.

And now his heart went out to this proud woman who looked so dejected and forlorn.

He sat next to her. "You know, I had thought that my softness was unappealing to women, especially a woman like Hikari. I thought that being a single parent would make Hikari turn away from me. This whole time, I had focused on matching everyone else without even thinking about what I had been pining for all along. I had nearly no interaction with her whatsoever the time you were gone, but yesterday, she took the initiative, and with that soft voice of hers, told me how she felt."

Mimi was watching him intently.

"I love her. I have loved her from the moment I saw her. And I'm sure that is how my brother feels about you, or he would not have called the Honorium. I know him," he said to her with a sincere smile.

Mimi forced a smile and looked back down at the creaky wooden floors. She could not help but feel the way she does, being in the situation that she is in.

Takeru sighed. He didn't want to waste any more time. "Come with me," he ordered.

"What?" Mimi asked, blinking.

"Come with me."

"Why? Is someone hurt? Does somebody need me?"

"Yes, your husband needs you. Draconia needs a queen. You need children of your own before you completely steal mine, and you need what I have to offer," Takeru said.

"I don't understand."

"You will. Now come along. We have work to do."

Mimi allowed herself to be led from the room, out of the house and into another house where Takeru was staying. Takeru had taken over the simple farmer's stone dwelling, and trunks and boxes were piled to the roof. He lifted trunk after trunk and box after box until he found an oak, iron-bound trunk that seemed to have been unopened for some time. He grunted for it was quite heavy.

"You are going to dress like a woman," Takeru said, opening the trunk.

Mimi backed toward the door. "I'll not wear one of your tight-waisted gowns," she said. "If we were attacked, I could not fight."

"The only one who will attack you tonight is my brother," Takeru said. "Tai asked you to marry him, didn't he? What caused him to propose?"

Mimi smiled warmly in memory. "I beat him in an archery contest."

Takeru gaped at her. He took a while but eventually recovered. "There is a basic difference between our countries' courtship," he said softly. "I don't believe a man would ask a woman who beat him in an arms' skill to marry him."

"But it is necessary for a woman to be strong."

"It is also sometimes necessary to be soft," Takeru answered gently. "And tonight you will be soft."

He turned to the open trunk and pulled out a heavenly, beautiful gown of deep, dark sapphire-blue velvet. "I had this made for my brother's future wife as a reminder of where her husband came from and I had intended to give this to you on your wedding day, but things happened rather hastily so I did not get a chance. And I doubt you would have wanted to wear it anyway. You were so…" He shook his head. "That was then. And this…" He turned around with the beautiful gown in his hands, "is now. I believe it will fit you perfectly."

Mimi backed away from the gown as if it was poison, but then a ray of the setting sun touched it and she moved closer. She had never seen such fabric and the woman in her ached to feel it against her skin. "I could not wear…" she began, but hesitated, then looked at Takeru. "Your brother would like this better than my being a good shot?"

"Mimi," Takeru said with serious intensity, "when we are finished, my brother will fall to his knees before you and beg you to forgive him for any unkind word he has ever said to you."

Mimi snatched the dress from Takeru's hand. "Let us begin."

Takeru laughed. "Follow me." He went to a corner in the stone house and behind a barrier he had set up was a wooden tub that he uses to bathe Shin. It had already been filled with hot water. "Step in, sister. A hot bath will do your nerves some good," he smiled, watching Mimi's anxious face. "Do not worry. I will not peek. I will prepare your clothing over here with Hikari, behind the wall. When you are done, step out with this," he handed her a blanket, "and we will get started."

The water was hot against her skin, but Takeru was right. It did indeed help calm her down. It took the soreness of her muscles away and for once, she was able to relax.

When she was done, she stepped out with the blanket wrapped around her body and made her way towards Takeru and Hikari, who were talking amongst themselves. "I am ready."

Takeru smiled at Mimi and patted Kari's hand before stepping out.

"He showed me how to put it on. I hope you do not mind me helping you into it," Kari said softly, holding the dress out.

"Are you okay with this? I mean I am not with Tai anymore," she said, her voice trailing.

"This is not about my brother. You are my queen, and it is of my own will that I help you reunite with my soon-to-be brother-in-law. Please trust me," Kari said to Mimi, gesturing to the dress.

Mimi smiled and nodded.

Mimi was used to the loose-fitting tunic and short trousers she wore as a guardswoman, and she had worn gowns for ceremonial occasions, but she had never worn anything like this before. First, there was a tight-fitting dark gold tunic that laced up each side. Takeru called the fabric brocade. Over this went the rich, thick blue velvet surcoat that had the sides cut away to show the deep curve of Mimi's waist and hips.

After Mimi had been dressed, Takeru came back in and Kari, in turn, stepped out after having dried Mimi's hair. Her chestnut-colored hair fell in soft curls down to her waist. Then Takeru placed a simple circlet of pure gold on her forehead, and on her feet were soft leather slippers instead of the tall boots Mimi usually wore.

Takeru stood back and looked at his sister-in-law critically. "Yes," he murmured, "perfect."

"I… I look all right?" Mimi asked. "As good as Jun?"

Takeru laughed at that. Mimi had no idea of her beauty or the power it gave her. To Mimi, power was being able to shoot well, ride well, to stand close to a man in battle. But this beauty of hers was a new power altogether.

"Jun is a chamber pot next to you. Bloody hell, I might even fall in love with you," Takeru said, making Mimi smile. "Now I want you to go out that door and go straight to my brother. Don't rush, but let everyone see you, and when you get to Matt tell him that you will be waiting for him in his tent after the marriages. Don't tell him where it is, let him find out, and don't say anything else except that you will meet him in his tent. If he tries to talk to you about what is good for Draconia or what must be done with this Blackheart queen, merely tell him to bring his lute—then _leave_. Understand me, Mimi? Do not let him treat you as a man."

"As a man?" Mimi whispered. "I do not think I understand."

"And he doesn't understand a Draconian guardswoman. I don't know how you two met before the Honorium, but I'll wager it wasn't when you were beating the men in war games."

Mimi smiled in memory. "No, it was not."

"Now go out there and let my brother see you. Remember that you are beautiful. No, better yet, let the eyes of the men tell you you are beautiful. Go on," Takeru said, taking Mimi's arm. "The marriages will begin soon and Matt must preside over them. Ryou will escort you to Matt's tent and my brother will come to you as soon as possible."

"And then what?" Mimi asked. She wanted to postpone leaving the house as long as possible. She felt very strange in the tight garments that tangled about her feet, and she was afraid she would trip and fall. And she felt almost naked without her weapons. No knife rode on her hip, no quiver hung at her back. No sword, no shield, no lance filled her hands.

"I will have supper sent to you and you will sit in a chair with Matt at your feet and he will play and sing for you. Mimi, do not look so frightened. It is not a battle you are going into."

Mimi gave a weak smile. "I would rather fight four Momoe's at once than do this."

Takeru escorted her to the door. "You will be more than fine. Do not worry. Now go."

Mimi hesitated. "But—"

"Go!" Takeru ordered, shoving her forward.

Mimi swallowed hard and left the little stone house. She knew Matt would be near Jun and the queen had established herself on a carved chair at the eastern boundary of the public square where she could see and be seen by all. Right now it seemed like a long way away. Mimi kept her eyes straight ahead and walked with a purpose.

People began to stop and look at her, and at first she thought they saw her as ridiculous, but as she saw their eyes, she began to gain confidence. The women, even the prettiest women who had had their choice of suitors, were frowning at Mimi, while the men... the men were gaping.

"That is Mimi," she heard whispers as if they had never seen her before.

Mimi's shoulders went back and a little smile spread across her face. It was rather nice to be looked at this way, she thought as she slowly made her way toward where her husband must surely be.

He was not far from Jun but at least he was not hovering over her as he usually was. Instead, Ken was sitting by Jun, his dark blue eyes devouring her. He glanced up at his sister and his eyes expressed utter surprise. Jun followed his gaze, stared, and then gave Mimi an appraising look, as one would try to judge the strength of an enemy. Her eyes followed Mimi as she walked toward Matt.

Matt was intently conversing with Tai and was unaware of the commotion Mimi's approach was causing.

Tai looked up, saw Mimi, and then looked back at Matt. But then Tai's face changed and he turned slowly and stared at her. He had not looked at her like this the day she had beaten him at an archery contest. Then he had been proud of her, but this new look was something altogether different, and it made Mimi feel quite, quite good.

Frowning at Tai's distraction, Matt followed his glance.

Mimi's lack of confidence disappeared instantly when she saw Matt's face. His eyes bugged and his mouth dropped open. He looked to be paralyzed as he watched her come forward.

Mimi was astonished as she found herself not walking with her usual purposeful stride, but in a slower way that made her hips move from side to side. Suddenly she felt more powerful than she ever had in her life, much more powerful than when she carried a lance and a battle-ax.

Matt continued to gape in a very flattering way as she approached him.

"I will meet you in your tent after the ceremonies," she said, her voice low and husky.

He nodded and she smiled, then she turned to leave.

"Mimi," he called, "where is the tent?"

She looked over her shoulder at him. "Find it," she said. "And bring your lute. I may want you to play for me."

"I hate you," Tai muttered to Matt under his breath half-heartedly, his eyes still glued to Mimi's figure.

Her heart was pounding as she turned away, but she was smiling. Behind her she could hear Jun demanding that the attention be returned to her, but Mimi felt that she had won.

All she had to do was continue her act tonight, she thought with a gulp.

---------------

(**A/N: **Okay! The moment we've all been waiting for is a chapter away! Even though yes, Mimi is no longer a virgin. This chapter was a little longer though I am not sure I am satisfied with it. I might take it down or change it around or something. Please review and let me know. The more reviews, the sooner you get to read why this story is rated M. Hope you like this chapter. As I promised, here's a quickie update.)


	12. In Full Blossom

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 12  
In Full Blossom**

The interior of Matt's tent was a sumptuous affair, the walls hung with heavy silk, and now there were carpets from the faraway Holy Lands on the ground. Fancy furniture, two chairs, a little table, candle stands, and a bed filled the space. Mimi found her face blushing as she looked at the large feather mattress draped with a beautiful embroidered cover against the far wall.

She sat in the tent and waited for the arrival of her husband. Servants came with food and placed it on the table as they gave Mimi knowing looks.

"How go the ceremonies?" she asked.

"The bushes and beds are filled with lovers," the man replied, smirking. "And Prince Ken has claimed that Blackheart queen's bed." They left her alone.

Mimi was not sure she liked her hot-tempered brother placing himself under the influence of so treacherous a woman as Jun. No man seemed able to handle her. But then Mimi thought that perhaps Matt was handling her rather well. She had said she would not allow her people to marry the Misthearts unless Matt married her, but here she was with her people married and she was not united with the Mistheart king.

Mimi was thinking so hard about this that she did not hear Matt approach the tent. He must have left his horse some distance away.

"Is that smile for me?" he asked softly.

She looked up at him and her smile broadened. "You have done what you said. The Misthearts and Blackhearts are married and Jun has only a prince in her bed. Perhaps there is hope for you as king."

Matt laughed. "I have had to risk much to earn that compliment." He walked toward the little table where the food waited. "May I pour you a glass of wine? This looks to be some that I brought with me."

She accepted a tall, golden mug set with rough-cut rubies from him. She tried not to gape at the mug and to act as a foreign princess might. "Nothing went wrong at the ceremonies?" she asked.

"No." He grinned. "Though I think there was some bedding done before the vows, thanks to you and Takeru sending couples off alone." He sat on a carpet on the floor and leaned against the foot of the bed. There wasn't much room in the tent and of necessity everything was very close.

Mimi took a deep breath. She didn't know how to be friendly with this man. They had done nothing but fight since they had met. "When we guardswomen have trained very hard, we rub each other's shoulders. Perhaps I can do the same for you," she said tentatively, afraid he might reject her.

Matt smiled at her with great warmth, and there was gratitude in his eyes. He leaned back and held out his hand to her as she went to him.

She knelt beside him for a moment, still holding his hand, and looked into the deep blue of his eyes. For the first time in a long while, she felt herself drawn to him. Right now Draconia, Tai, Sora, her brother's right to the throne; all of it seemed a faraway dream. When she moved, the velvet undulated about her body, and now the candlelight was gleaming on Matt's golden hair.

"You must remove your tunic and lie face down," she said, trying to keep the tremor from her voice.

His eyes turned hot and the lids lowered as he looked at her caramel eyes then her lips. He set his wine aside then unbuckled his belt and pulled his tunic over his head. He wore nothing beneath and the candlelight shadowed and highlighted the heavy muscles of his chest. There was a scar across one shoulder and she lightly put her fingertips on it.

Matt smiled at her. "I wasn't giving Gennai my full attention and he thought he'd teach me a lesson." He clasped her fingertips, and then brought them to his lips. "You are beautiful, Mimi," he said as he kissed her fingers, then put her thumb inside his warm, wet mouth and ran his tongue over it. He made little nibbling kisses to the inside of her wrist and began to work his way down the inside of her forearm, pushing her sleeve back as he went. "I thought you were beautiful the first day I saw you but now…"

"As pretty as your foreign princesses?" she whispered, watching him. "As pretty as the woman you should have married?"

He laughed deep in his throat. "There is no woman dead or alive to compare with you." He put her arm down in her lap and looked at her. "If you are to rub my shoulders, perhaps you should remove some of your own clothing."

Mimi could feel the blood rushing to her face. She had undressed before him repeatedly, but somehow, now, in the soft candlelight, it seemed different. And, too, she knew that if she undressed now it would lead to another painful episode like the last time. But, somehow, she wasn't afraid. There was just that feeling of excitement that she always felt before a battle.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she slipped the outer layer of velvet over her head and she was left wearing only the very tight silk garment. Years of exercise had given her layers of muscle that molded her hips and made her waist tiny and her breasts high and proud.

Matt, looking up at her, gave a groan that was so heartfelt that Mimi smiled. It was frivolous the way this man valued physical beauty but it did feel good to have him look at her so. It was almost as if her skill with a lance didn't matter.

"Mimi," he whispered, and held out his arms to her.

It was the most natural thing in the world for her to go to him. To deny him would have been to deny a drink to a man dying of thirst.

He kissed her lips tenderly, not hard or fiercely, but as if he had all the time there was. He played with her lips and touched them with the tip of his tongue. By the time he finished, Mimi's body was so fluid he could have tied her in knots. She lounged against his arms, her entire weight supported by him, her eyes closed. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at him. His lids were lowered slightly and his lips were softened from their kiss. She had never seen a man look like this before and certainly not this man who usually frowned in displeasure. But now there was desire in his eyes but gentleness too, and a kind of contentment, as if he wanted to be nowhere else on the earth but here with her. Mimi's heart began to beat a little faster. This man said he loved her. Could that be true? Could this expression on his face be love?

He caressed her face with his fingertips, and then with his whole hand, his palm against her cheek, his fingers entwined in her hair, then kissed her lips, then her neck. Mimi lay still in his arms, accepting his gentle caresses, but her heart was beginning to beat faster with each second. Who would have thought that this big man who cursed and fought and raged could touch a woman so softly?

He kissed her lips again but this time she kissed him back. She put her arms around his neck and pressed her silk-clad breasts tight against the warm, bare skin of his chest.

"Mimi, my love," he whispered against her neck, his lips hot against her skin.

Her pounding heart was beginning to rise in her chest, making its way toward her throat until she wondered if she might suffocate. His fingers touched the laces at the side of her gown, and as skillfully as he might play a stringed instrument, he untied the knots and loosened their hold.

She gasped when his big, warm, hands slipped inside the silk and clutched her bare waist. He squeezed her as a playful boy would, and to Mimi's disbelief, she laughed in delight like one of the empty-headed girls who aspired to be a guardswoman—one of the girls who was always turned down. But Matt wasn't disgusted by Mimi's giggle as a Draconian warrior most assuredly would be. Instead, he grinned, his blue eyes twinkling with merriment. "_Mimi_ ticklish?" he said. "The great warrior princess, _ticklish_?"

She tried to get away from him, but she couldn't move from his hands that held her so firmly about the waist. His fingers began to move, and try as she would, Mimi could not control her laughter. She pushed at him but she may as well have tried to push an oak tree down. Torturously, his fingers began to move inside her dress and Mimi kept laughing. Helplessly, she fell backward onto the carpet.

When she heard the dress tear, she cried out in protest, but it didn't sound like a serious protest and Matt's hands kept making her laugh.

Suddenly, he stopped tickling her and looked down at her. Somehow, Mimi was nude, or at least nearly so, for the gown was split from neck to knees. Her breasts, even as she lay on her back, stood up high in excitement and pleasure as Matt, on his knees, straddled her thighs.

His face changed from teasing to serious as he looked at her, his blue eyes dark, his veins pumping, and the muscles of his chest rigid and pronounced. His nostrils flared slightly as he looked down at her. Then, smoothly, he picked her up into his arms, tearing the last of her dress and hose away, and carried her to bed.

Mimi's body felt alive as it never had before, but she was also a little afraid. "Your brother will not like it that his wedding gift to me is torn," she whispered.

He didn't answer as he put her on the bed, then stood over her and stared down at her body. His eyes traveled slowly from her bare toes, up her legs, to her breasts, and at last to her face. By the time he finished his long perusal of her, Mimi's heart was pounding in her ears.

He sat beside her, his broad, gleaming, muscular back to her, and began to remove his clothing. He didn't seem to be in a hurry, but more as if he had waited all his life for this moment and planned to enjoy it to its fullest.

He turned back to her, his big body completely nude and stretched out beside her, his heavy legs against hers, his powerful arms around her, pulling her to him, stroking her back, his hands sliding down to her buttocks. "I mismanaged the first time, but I will do better this time," he whispered before kissing her lips again.

This kiss was different, not so gentle but with more yearning and longing in it—and more heat. Mimi's skin was so hot she felt as if she had a fever. She did not want him to leave her, but he did as his head began to move downward, down her neck, across her shoulders, down her arm, where he nipped inside her elbow, then he raked her palm across his teeth and Mimi's body contracted with pleasure. He brought his head to the center of her throat, his tongue licking at the hollow there. His hands caught both of hers and held them over her head, pinned to the bed as he began to make love to her breasts. Mimi began to moan, her head turning from one side to the other. She could feel sweat forming on her body as she tried to release herself from some of the intolerable heat building in her body.

His head moved downward, his wet tongue touching her stomach, running along the taut muscles, licking at her hipbones.

He released his hold on her hands and slid his hands under her buttocks to lift her as his tongue slid into her womanhood. Mimi gasped, her eyes flying open. "Matt," she moaned.

Hearing her moan his name for the first time made his insides even hotter. His tongue swiveled up and down against her womanhood skillfully, making her moan louder.

"Matt," she moaned as she felt white heat from her womanhood rise up towards the rest of her body.

"Yes, my love," he said, and moved upward to her lips.

Her legs opened to receive him and he slid inside her easily, with no pain, only the most divine pleasure. Mimi arched her body, her head rolling back at the sheer ecstasy of this new sensation. Slowly, he pulled himself almost out of her, and Mimi dug her fingers into the skin of his arms in fear that he might leave her, but he just slid back into her again in that exquisite, torturously slow way.

She opened her eyes to look at him, and the expression on his face made her skin tighten. It was a look of such supreme, all-consuming pleasure that Mimi's heart beat faster.

It did not take her long to catch on to the rhythm of this new sensation of lovemaking. She lifted her knees to better accommodate his deep, slow thrusts. In and out. Again and again. Slowly, gently, smoothly.

It was just moments or perhaps it was days, but Mimi began to crave something else or perhaps it was just more that she wanted. She did not know what it was. "Matt?" she whispered in question.

He opened his eyes to look at her and the fire there made her heart pound.

He changed. Instantly, he changed from gentleness to a wild animal as he roughly grabbed her leg and shoved it around his waist. Mimi wrapped her other leg around his waist and lifted her hips as he began to thrust hard and fast. She met his thrusts with an equal force of her own, using her years of training and power to slam together powerfully, building into a crescendo of passion and desire.

When at last she exploded, there were stars in the blackness before her eyes and a roaring in her ears. She cried out as her arms and legs clutched Matt with all her strength, holding on to him like a log in the sea. She strained against him as he shuddered, his body seeming to be racked with spasms.

For a long while they lay together, clinging with the strength of two strong animals, their bodies plastered with sweat, their limbs intertwined.

Matt was the first to move his head so he could look at her. "I did not hurt you?" he asked with a smug little smile.

Mimi didn't take offense. Her body felt too good to be offended at any words in the world. "I had no idea," she whispered. "I did not know there was such as this."

He kissed her cheek. "To be quite honest, I didn't either. No wonder men…" He trailed off.

"Men what?" she demanded, one eyebrow arched.

"This is why men run from one bed to another. Such pleasure is…" He closed his eyes. "Such pleasure is—"

"Mine," Mimi said coolly.

Matt looked at her, smiled, and hugged her to him.

They untangled their arms and legs from one another and snuggled close, their sweaty bodies sticking together.

Mimi had never felt this way in her life. It was as if something had always been missing and now was filled. She turned her head slightly so she could see Matt's profile in the candlelight. Matt, she thought, not Yamato the "foreigner," but Matt, her husband, a man with a name. She put her hand up and touched his cheek and he kissed her fingertips, his eyes closed, his body completely relaxed.

"Tell me of your life," she said softly. She had never cared much about his history or about his thoughts but now she wanted to know more about him.

He turned to look at her as if he were studying her. He smiled at her in a way that made Mimi feel a bit soft inside, a softness that had nothing to do with passion.

"There is a cold dinner waiting for us," he said. "Shall we eat while we talk?"

Matt put his loincloth on, and Mimi, having nothing else to wear, put on his big embroidered tunic. It left her long legs bare, and when she saw Matt glancing at them, she made sure they showed at every opportunity. And the tunic kept slipping off one shoulder, but Mimi did not bother to straighten it.

The food was indeed cold but, to her, she had never tasted anything better. They set the dishes on the carpeted ground, and between the free-flowing wine and Matt's eyes looking at her with great intensity, she felt giddy. His voice—why had she never noticed the golden tones of it before—further intoxicated her.

He told of the responsibility of being king that he had always lived with; how he had rarely been able to please old Gennai or his father.

"You worried that you weren't pleasing Hiro?" Mimi gasped. "But he talked of you as if you were a god. The son _my_ mother gave him was nothing to him. He taunted Ken with you."

"But he sent instructions to Gennai that I was to do more and more. When I was sixteen and I thought Gennai and I were going hunting, four Draconians attacked me at once instead. We fought for hours while Gennai stood and watched."

"You did not kill them or they you?"

Matt grimaced. "I realized later that they toyed with me, one protecting the other. I cut a few of them but they merely bruised me. Merely, ha!" he said. "I limped for weeks after that, and I was so angry at Gennai that I could barely speak to him. He was a hard, loveless old man."

"But he praised you to Hiro," Mimi said. "Hiro always held you up as an example to Ken."

"Who now hates me."

"With reason. He is a Draconian prince while you are—" She stopped because Matt jammed a large piece of bread into her mouth.

"One night, Mimi," he said, with the eyes of a lost puppy begging to be taken home. "One night of peace, please."

She could not help laughing as she bit off half the bread then, on impulse, put the other half in his mouth. "All right," she said, smiling, "you may be king tonight, but tomorrow you must prove to me that you are fit to rule."

"Fit to rule," he said, and his eyes darkened. "I will show you who is fit to rule." He began crawling toward her on his hands and knees like some great predatory animal.

Mimi started to laugh, but then his loincloth "accidentally" came unfastened and he left no doubt as to his intentions. Mimi's mouth was suddenly dry and this time there was no fear. When she flung the tunic from her body and opened her arms to him, she saw the momentary surprise on his face, but she did not understand it. She had not been raised to be coy, to cover her true feelings with pretense and playacting. She wanted him as much as he wanted her and she did not pretend otherwise.

After his first shock, Matt smiled happily at her eagerness. There was no reason to go slowly this time, and his passion for Mimi was raging. He had looked at those bare legs of hers for two whole hours and he had thought of nothing but mounting her again, but he had been cautious, for each woman he had known back home liked to pretend virginity with each coupling.

But Mimi was Draconian, and she said what she thought, acted upon what she believed, and went after what she wanted. He need never worry about her deceiving him. She would tell him to his face that she believed him right or wrong.

After their first coupling, which he had stupidly bungled, he was afraid she would never want to bed him again, but it looked as if she were about to change her mind, he thought with some smugness.

"Here, my eager darling, let me teach you a few tricks," he said, smiling at her. He picked her up and set her down on his manhood and smiled with pleasure at the look of surprise then grateful pleasure on her face. At least _here_ was one area where she was not calling him a fool. Here was one place where he had all the knowledge and she had none.

Within seconds, Mimi changed his mind on that. She was strong and clever and lusty and creative in ways Matt had never dreamed possible. His encounters with women had not been frequent, as old Gennai had believed war training was more important than bed training, and, too often, Matt's encounters had been with jaded women who wanted to say they had been to bed with the handsome prince. They had forced Matt to do all the work.

"Mimi," he whispered as his hands stroked her long, hard thighs as she moved up and down on top of him. He thought he might die from the ecstasy she was causing him.

Suddenly, he could stand no more, and never breaking contact, he threw her to her back on the carpets and finished with a few deep, desperate thrusts, finishing with deep shudders that seemed to come from within his soul. He held Mimi so tightly she cried aloud.

"You are breaking me," she said, struggling to make him loosen his grip.

He chuckled. "I will bend you to fit into my pocket and I will take you out only when you are the Mimi-by-the-water."

"I am always that Mimi," she said, fitting her body close to his.

He gave a jaw-popping yawn. "Perhaps you are used to sleeping on the floor but I am for the bed." He picked Mimi up as if she were a child, ignoring the protest she began, but soon stopped, and took her to bed. He pulled her into his arms, drew a cover over them, and was instantly asleep.

Not so Mimi. Her mind and body were too full of new sensations to sleep. When Matt's breath was deep and his body relaxed in sleep, Mimi eased from the bed, picked up his tunic from the floor, drew it over her head, and left the tent.

The night air was cool on her face and bare legs, and she turned her face to the moon. Smiling, she hugged her arms about her body. At last, she was truly no longer a maiden. This is what she had felt the day she had first met Matt after she had been swimming. And this was what she had never felt with Tai, she thought. If only she could feel with Matt the safety and serenity that Tai made her feel.

A cool wind blew across her, making her shiver, and she went back into the tent. In the candlelight she looked at Matt sleeping like a baby, one palm upward trustingly. She must have made a noise, for he stirred, his hands reaching out for something. Me, she thought with a smile, then blew out the candles and climbed into bed with him.

She woke with something tickling her nose. She jumped when she opened her eyes to see Matt bending over her brushing a piece of her own hair against her nose. For a moment she was startled at the sight of this man in her bed, and when she remembered, she blushed.

Matt smiled knowingly. "Good morning, wife," he said, and kissed her softly. "And what entertainment do you have planned for me today? I'll wager you'll not outdo yesterday with your velvet dress and leading me to this den of unearthly pleasures. Had I known you'd react so to Jun, I would have seen that she attended our wedding."

Mimi was not used to being teased. "I did not plan this," she said indignantly. "Your brother said I should try to dress like a woman in order to… to…" She gave him a weak smile.

"To what?" he asked innocently.

"Jun had nothing to do with this. If you want to follow that old woman about like her pet dog, that is your choice." She started to roll away from him to get out of bed, but he held her fast.

"Jun is not old. She is a beautiful, powerful woman, and power like hers appeals to a man, especially a king like me."

"She is not as beautiful as I!" Mimi half-yelled, and then saw by Matt's face that he was laughing at her. Her voice lowered. "Jun is the better off, for I saved her last night from a boring evening." She gave a yawn. "Perhaps she found herself a lusty Draconian lover, someone as handsome and virile as Tai."

"Tai!" Matt gasped. "Why, I could break that scrawny, ugly, little—" He broke off when he realized she was giving him some of his own back. "I know how to punish you for that," he said, looking fierce. The next moment he was on her, tickling her until she was squealing with laughter and writhing between his legs.

The writhing made him forget that he was "punishing" her, and in a moment they were kissing as hungrily as if they had not seen one another for a year. The kissing led to a long lovemaking, and then both fell into a short but deep sleep.

The rumbling of Matt's stomach woke them both.

"I do not want to leave here," Matt said, holding her close to him. "Out there rages the world. No doubt Jun has already declared war on the Misthearts, and it is my fault for not seeing to her."

His tone was so gloomy that she kissed his nose then her head came up. "Someone comes."

Instantly, Matt was out of bed, pulled a cover over his shoulder to cover his nakedness, and grabbed his sword. "Stay here," he ordered Mimi. "And I mean that."

He left the tent to await the arrival of the lone horseman, who, when he saw Matt, increased his pace.

It was Ryou and he looked at Matt—nude but for the wool blanket over one shoulder and trailing behind him, his sword drawn—with amusement. "It is good I am not an enemy," Ryou said. "You took long enough to hear me."

"What is wrong?" Matt asked, his voice heavy and sharing none of Ryou's humor. "How am I needed?"

Ryou paused a moment before answering, his jaw working. "You are not needed. Your brother and sister-in-law have sent you food and clothing for Mimi." He raised an eyebrow at Matt. "They seemed to think Mimi's clothing would not last the night." Ryou gave a big smile at the reddening of Matt's face.

Matt cursed his fair skin and the Draconian smugness as he took the baskets from Ryou. "Jun is all right? She is not angered because I was not with her last night?"

"Young Ken entered her tent last night and has not yet come out. We Draconians seem able to do some things on our own, my king."

"That seems to be the case," Matt said with a smile.

"Now I must go before my wife wakes up," Ryou said, his face turning hard, as if preparing for Matt's disapproval.

"Wife?" Matt asked.

Ryou cleared his throat. "I married Jun's court maiden, Ruki."

Matt's grin almost split his face. "It seems women are not so incompetent as we men thought. To think you are sneaking around behind your new bride's back. You did a good job keeping her in bed this morning."

It was Ryou's turn to look sheepish, and then he smiled. "There is enough food there for two days and there is no need for you to come back. Everyone is… interested in each other. There will be many children nine months from today. I bid you good morning, for I have my own children to beget." He waved his hand in farewell and turned his horse away.

Mimi came out of the tent wearing Matt's tunic, a small eating knife in her hand. "So now you have the captain of the guard on your side," she said thoughtfully. "I wonder if Ken knows of this."

Matt put two fingers to her lips. "Peace for as long as possible, remember? Do not speak of your brother today, please. Let us eat and make love and swim and sing."

Mimi smiled at this. "Can we actually do what we want today? No uniting of tribes nor any other state business?"

"We shall be lovers and do what lovers do. Shall I play my lute and sing for you?"

"I'd rather you showed me that trick you have of throwing a knife. I have tried it but I cannot move my wrist as you do. It would be very useful in battle to be able to throw a knife and kill a man so cleanly and quickly. I could—" Once again, Matt put his fingers over her lips.

"An hour's knife practice, an hour of singing, and the rest of the day making love," he said.

Mimi looked thoughtful. "That seems like an equal division to me," she said seriously, her eyes twinkling. "Shall we eat first or bathe first?"

"Eat," he said, reaching for her, but laughing, she eluded him and grabbed the basket of food. When his blanket fell away and she saw that he wanted more than food, she ignored him as she sat on the ground and began to eat. But all through the meal she stretched her legs often and bent so he could see down the front of the loose tunic.

It was a heavenly day to both of them, the first they had shared as people, not as enemies. Matt reluctantly showed Mimi how to throw a knife, but he soon realized that she had a natural aptitude for using a weapon and after an hour's practice she was nearly as good as he.

"You should teach my men," he said grudgingly.

"Not that Takuya," Mimi snapped. "I do not like that man."

Matt started to correct her but, instead, he said nothing. Perhaps Takuya was offending other Draconians as well as Mimi.

For both of them the day was too short. Although they had been married for some weeks, they knew very little about each other and so much anger had been between them that they could not easily trust. But each of them had been reared to do nothing except train for war. Matt had had Natsuko to teach him some of the gentler ways and he had come to believe that was a woman's place in life. Mimi had no idea what Matt expected of her.

They spent the day tentatively trying to please the other, neither of them knowing what the other expected in a marriage mate. Mimi wanted to have an archery contest—after all it was what had made Tai ask her to marry him. But Matt did not like that idea. He wanted to show Mimi how to play a lute or to sing songs. Mimi did not want to appear to be a fool in front of him at all so she did not even attempt to play or sing with him. It seemed that neither of them was willing to do what he knew the other one excelled at.

So they ate and made love and they talked. Matt listened with some wonder at Mimi's story of her childhood. He had been so horrified at the idea of a women's guard at first that he had dismissed the women, but now he listened more openly because he had seen the way Mimi protected his back.

"But when did you dance and play?" he asked. "When did you ride out in the fields to look at the spring flowers?"

"The same time you did," she answered with a chuckle.

They made love again that night and slept twined in each other's arms. It wasn't quite dawn when the sound of a horse, coming at a run, woke them. Mimi and Matt rolled out of bed instantly, both pulling on a tunic while they ran toward the tent door. Matt ordered Mimi to stay behind, but she made no move to obey him. She stood beside him, sword in hand, and waited for the rider.

It was Ken, his face dark with rage—and across his saddle, hands and feet tied, mouth gagged, was Jun.

---------------

(**A/N: **So sorry for the freakishly long update. With a short chapter too! I don't know, I just couldn't come up with anything at all for this chapter. I was fresh out of inspiration. I need to read some good Mimato, people! That should get me writing in no time. But you know what's better? Your awesome reviews. That's right. So please, please review! I'd like to get some feedback on this darned long awaited chapter.)


	13. Salvage

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 13  
Salvage**

"You fool!" Matt bellowed before Ken spoke. Matt caught the halter of the horse then pulled Jun into his arms. The Blackheart queen's eyes were on fire with fury.

"What did she do?" Mimi asked her brother.

"It does not matter what she did," Matt yelled. "You have ruined us with your stupid little-boy temper."

Ken grabbed his sword as he dismounted and Mimi put herself between her husband and her brother.

"You will not fight over this," Mimi said. "We will talk and see what can be done."

Matt hefted Jun in his arms. The rage and anger on the woman's face spelled the end of all his dreams for a united Draconia and all because of the childish temper of this half-brother of his. Ken wanted power only for power's sake, not because he meant to do some good with the power.

"I heard her planning to attack the Misthearts," Ken said, his voice full of hatred for Matt. "She slipped from the bed we shared last night—the foolish woman thought I was asleep." He glared at Jun. "It will take more than what an old woman like you can give me to make me sleep," he spat at her. "I followed her. She went to one of her guard and ordered him to find your tent and kill both of you. I killed the guard and then, when this viper slept, I took her."

Mimi looked at Matt. "My brother has saved your life and mine as well. You should not have doubted him."

Matt was aghast. "He has caused a war because he could not keep a woman in bed with him and I should not have doubted him?"

"You—" Ken shouted, and advanced on Matt sword drawn.

Matt was about to put Jun down and go after Ken, but again Mimi stepped between them.

"We must _prevent_ war!" she yelled. "If the Blackhearts find their queen gone, they will murder the Misthearts as they sleep. We must work with what has been done—and it must be done quickly."

Matt stood holding Jun, ignoring her squirming in his arms, her noise made through the gag, and glared at his half-brother. He was seeing dreams and hopes crumble all because of this boy's uncontrollable temper. No doubt Ken was angry because Jun could leave his bed and felt the woman was insulting his masculinity.

"Matt!" Mimi shouted, trying to get his attention because all he seemed able to do was glare at Ken with hate in his eyes. "We must make plans."

Matt could think of nothing except his anger. Slowly, he turned to look at Mimi. "You side with him."

"There are not sides to take," she said. "Ken thought he was saving your life, and it looks like he was." She turned to her half-brother. "What did you do with the guard's body?"

"I pushed it off the cliff not far from here."

"Get it," she ordered, but Ken didn't move. "Go get the body and fasten it to sit a horse. We will take this queen back to the village and she will tell them she means to ride with us to Koushiro."

Jun gave a sharp "Ha!" through her gag.

"Go!" Mimi screeched at Ken. "We need to act quickly before someone suspects."

Ken rode away, toward the village, while Mimi walked past Matt into the tent. "We must dress," she said, "and put her down."

Matt, still carrying Jun, followed her into the tent. "Damn you, Mimi, you'll not start giving orders again."

She was wrapping her cross garters about her legs. "I should have stood there and let you two fight one another over _her_?" She looked up at him. "Do you enjoy holding her?"

Matt tossed the tightly bound Jun onto the bed and put his hands on Mimi's shoulders. "Could we not be at peace, you and I? Must you always take the side of others against me?"

"I told you I did not choose sides. What is done is done, now we must solve it. We must do something to keep the Blackhearts from realizing that their queen is held captive." She picked up Jun's feet and removed her belt.

Matt straightened. "All right, I will take her back to the village and she will tell her men that she rides with us to the Frenzyheart village. We will bring back Frenzyhearts to marry into the Blackhearts and Misthearts." Again there was protest from Jun.

Mimi leaned over the woman on the bed, put her face close to Jun's, and said in a silky voice, "We will have arrows aimed at you, and if you do not say what we want and you somehow escape, I will come after you, and one day, while you sleep, I will creep into your bedchamber and cut the end of your nose off. Never again will you fascinate a pretty young prince." She smiled coldly at Jun and touched the woman's nose with her fingertip.

Matt threw up his hands in exasperation. "Go get Tai," he said. "The Blackhearts will believe she rides freely with us if her nephew stands beside her. We will say Koushiro has agreed to see us, and two hours from now we will ride toward Frenzyheart land. And may God be with us."

Mimi finished dressing and left the tent to go to her horse. Matt came after her and caught her arm.

"It didn't last long, did it? Our peace, I mean."

"My brother probably saved your life," she said. "He kept your vicious, lying queen busy so she wouldn't notice you had lied about marrying her, and he killed a Blackheart guard who was being sent to kill you. If someone had seen Ken do the killing, he would be dead now, you and I might also be dead, and there would be a war started. He risked much for you, yet you condemn him."

"You see killing as the only solution. You Draconians live your lives training for war. I wonder if you are capable of living in peace. You plot and plan against each other so much that—"

"If you despise us so much, why don't you return to your perfect, peaceful home?" she shot at him. "We do not need you to constantly tell us that we are wrong, that everything we do does not live up to your knightly standards. We have survived centuries without you and we can continue to survive."

"All you do is _survive_!" he said with anger. "Each tribe of Draconia lives in a prison. You have no roads, no outside merchants, no trade between tribes; you have nothing but weapons and warfare. And you fight me, your own king, at every turn. We had two days of peace and now the Blackheart queen lies tied and gagged."

"Ken should have let the guard come for you," she said, her eyes black with anger. The man was foreign and he thought, talked, and reasoned that way.

Matt took a step backward. "You do not mean that," he whispered.

"Hear me well, foreigner: I will always choose my country over any single life. I would die now if it would help my country. My brother, who you insult, is the same. You have taken a throne which should be his, but he killed to save your life because he too wants peace between the tribes. We see, more than you ever could, the impossibility of the task, but we are risking our lives to help you, yet you despise us for it."

"I despise your tempers," Matt shot back. "You think with a battle-ax in your hands. Ken was angry because a Blackheart queen dared threaten the life of a Mistheart. Ken thinks only of the Misthearts, not of what is good for all of Draconia. He would be a good king of one tribe, but he does not consider himself part of all the country. He should have come to me and warned me. He should _not_ have kidnapped the Blackheart queen and risked war." Matt leaned closer to her. "Or perhaps your brother would like this peace to fail. The people would no doubt turn on me and kill me if I had brought the Blackhearts here and they attacked. Ken would be king then."

He caught her hand before she slapped him. "Go," he said. "Get Tai and Sora. We will ride into the Frenzyhearts as soon as possible."

Matt watched her ride away, and then went back into the tent. Jun lay on the bed, her eyes watching him as he walked across the room. He drank deeply of wine to fortify himself. He cursed Ken for his stupidity. Matt had meant to try to persuade Jun to travel to Koushiro's country in peace, and, more important, he was waiting for his messenger to return with the news that Koushiro would receive the new king.

Now Ken had forced Matt to accelerate his plans and now Matt had an enraged queen on his hands. And, Matt thought sadly, a wife who once again hated him. He had proved nothing to her, had made her see nothing of his way of thinking. Still, she assumed her jealous brother was doing what was good for Draconia and that her husband was an outsider who understood nothing.

Matt cursed as he put down the empty wineglass. He would have to take Ken with him into Frenzyheart territory. Mimi might believe the man to be interested in his country's good but Matt didn't trust him. There was something more than anger in Ken's eyes, something that was greedy and repulsive, and Matt's instincts told him that Ken wanted the peace to fail. Cynically, Matt wondered if Ken had tried to get Jun to join forces with him against Matt and the woman had refused. Jun would never settle for a boy prince; she would want only a king who could match her in strength.

If Matt was right about Ken, he could not afford to leave him behind so that he could break the fragile peace between the tribes. Matt had hoped to remain in the Mistheart village for a month or more and preside over the peaceful union of his people—and over the peace in his own marriage—but now he would have to leave the tribes to themselves.

"Damn him!" Matt muttered. Ken had ruined everything, and now the hot-tempered boy would have to go with them. If Matt was right about Ken, he would have to watch his back.

His back, he thought with a grimace. Mimi would never protect her husband's back from her brother's arrows.

He turned back to Jun. "It's time to go." He pulled the gag from her mouth.

She spat at him. "My guards will kill you for this. I will never go with you and my people will never believe that Mistheart nephew of mine. He was fool enough to be taken by Hiroaki, so what do I want with a coward like him?"

"From what I heard, Tai was just a boy when he was taken and he attacked Hiroaki himself."

"He lost, though," she said. "He was not a true heir to his father. My brother was a magnificent man, a Blackheart, not a Mistheart like that puny boy you sent to my bed."

Matt was untying her hands. "Whatever you think of us, you are going to help us now."

"You think the threats of that nothing whore you married frighten me?"

Matt wrapped the neck of her gown in his hand. "She is more than you will ever be," he said, "and if her threats do not frighten you, let me tell you that if you are not a convincing liar to your people and make them believe you _want_ to go with us to Koushiro, I will remove more than your nose. I will remove your head."

She glared at him, but she made no more threats while he finished untying her. "What has Koushiro to do with me?"

"I want you to marry him," Matt said, pulling her from the bed.

Jun began to laugh. "You are more a fool than I thought. Me marry that brigand? If I did, I would rule the Frenzyhearts as well as the Blackhearts and I would destroy you."

Matt began pulling her out of the tent and toward his horse. "Perhaps Koushiro believes he will rule the Blackhearts."

"I will kill him if he dares try to take my power," she seethed.

Matt picked her up and dropped her into saddle. "Good, maybe you two will fight each other for control and I will be the winner. I hear Koushiro has a pretty daughter, perhaps she can marry Tai."

"You bastard!"

He mounted behind her and took the reins. "My parentage is well documented. I think 'fool' is a better choice of name for me. That I may be, for all I know."

He kicked his horse forward and hoped Jun could not feel the pounding of his heart. If this woman made one wrong move, he would have to kill her, and any hopes he ever had of peace would be lost.

Mimi rode out to meet him with Sora and Tai behind her. "We are ready," she said, her eyes cool.

"Where is Ken?" Matt asked.

Mimi pointed to the ridge just behind them. Ken sat on his horse beside a Blackheart guard—a dead Blackheart guard that from this distance looked alive.

Jun's announcement that she was leaving with Matt to go into Frenzyheart country was met by disbelief and protest from her guards. The protest was what saved Matt. She was angered that he guardsmen seemed to believe she could not take care of herself.

"I taught you how to fight," she said to one twenty-year-old guard. "Do you tell me now that I know nothing of weapons?"

"You are our queen and we value you," the young man said, "and it is a long way to Koushiro's village."

"You are saying I am too _old_ to make the journey?"

"Forgive me, my queen, I did not mean—"

Jun turned to Matt. "We will ride now and I will meet this Koushiro and we will see who is old." She swept from the room, leaving her guard standing in stunned silence behind her.

---------------

Mimi rode third in line up the narrow, rocky mountain path. Matt was first, then Jun, Ken behind Mimi, then Sora and Tai at the back. Mimi watched Matt's back even while she watched Jun for any sign of foul play. It had been a harrowing few hours since Ken had delivered a bound and gagged Jun to the tent.

Mimi smiled at the thought of that tent and the two nights they had spent there. But then she wiped the smile from her face, for she could not afford to allow bed pleasure to influence her decisions regarding her country.

Ken had been rash and impetuous in his kidnapping of Jun, but Mimi did not see what else he could have done, except, perhaps, do as Matt said and give warning first. Mimi shook her head to clear it. She didn't know who to believe. But Ken was Draconian and Matt was not.

They rode for hours, putting as much distance between themselves and the Mistheart village as possible. No one spoke since the horses moved in single file. They would spend two days on Blackheart land before reaching Frenzyheart territory, but they did not travel in the open because, except for Jun, they wore clothes of the Misthearts. The Blackhearts in the southern part of the country would not have heard of the new peace and Matt did not want to risk their lives to someone shooting them as intruders.

It was nightfall when they finally stopped, and only Jun looked tired. She had led a soft life over the last few years and the softness was telling on her.

Jun started off alone in the darkness, but Matt caught her arm. "You do not leave our sight."

"I am a queen and—" She paused and her expression changed from haughty to seductive. "You will go with me?"

He released her arm. "Mimi, go with her, see that she stays near us."

Mimi left the horse she was unloading and went to accompany Jun into the darkness.

"He will not give me to Koushiro," Jun whispered the moment they were out of sight of the others. "He will want a queen beside him while you are—"

"Young and healthy and capable of giving him children," Mimi said tiredly. "You can use your wiles on someone else. If my husband had wanted you, he would have taken you. Can you not see that he wants, above all else, to gain peace for Draconia?"

Jun was quiet for a moment as if judging her adversary. "To rule all of Draconia… even I had not thought on so grand a scale. How does he plan to kill those of us who had power before him?"

"He does not plan to kill anyone as far as I can tell. The man has an irrational distaste for death. He does not even kill the Og'rilahs."

This bit of news shocked Jun so much that the coaxing little whine dropped from her voice. "He thinks to unite Koushiro and me and that there will be no deaths?"

For a moment, Mimi felt a kinship with Jun. "He is a foreigner and he has a head made of stone. He also believes God talks to him. I do not understand him at all, but Hiroaki made him king and Yamato has the power until… until—"

"Until someone kills him. He is not long for this world," Jun said with finality. "It is good I did not marry him."

She was once again Mimi's enemy. "He did not want to marry you. Now let us get back. Tonight you will be watched, and while my husband hates death and my brother ties women up, I have been wanting to try a new knife trick I have just learned. I will kill you if you try to run."

Jun did not reply to this as she made her way back to the camp. She sat to one side while the others built a fire and began preparing the simple meal. She watched this Matt who was called King of Draconia but was in truth king only of the Misthearts. He watched Mimi constantly and Jun thought him a fool. He had fallen in love with the girl and thus made himself vulnerable. To be in power one must never love. She knew that all too well. Tai's father had taught her that lesson. She had loved a young man, loved him with all her heart—and Tai's father had ordered him killed. What had enraged Jun so much was that he wasn't trying to protect her, he was merely teaching her a lesson. When one loved, one was weakened. Jun had learned from that and she had never loved again, not her husband, her brother, not her nephew who was taken, no one.

Now she saw how this Matt's eyes followed Mimi and she saw where his weak point was. He would never accomplish his goal because he was weak.

She looked at the other people in the group. The woman Sora she dismissed. She was a "good" woman, fair, kind, loving—worthless. The woman Mimi had possibilities as a source of conflict. She did not yet know she loved this Matt and her mind was therefore clear. And she had no compunction about killing. She had been trained to kill. Jun knew she would have to be on guard against Mimi.

Jun looked at her nephew Tai a long time. He was a handsome young man and she could see some of his father's physical features in him, but she saw none of his father's detachment. Nor did Tai seem to have any of her own ambition. Jun did not think she could get her nephew to join her against this usurper. No, Tai was as much Mistheart as he was Blackheart.

At last her eyes rested on Ken, and there she saw what she wanted. He was a man filled with hatred. Jun had to hide a smile when she thought of the simplicity of the boy—for boy was what he was. He had come to Jun on the night of the marriage ceremonies looking rather like a puppy pleading to be liked. He had swaggered a bit and bragged a bit, but he couldn't conceal his fear of rejection.

At first Jun had been furious that Matt had presumed to send her this boy as if she were a mare in heat and any stallion would do, and then she had looked at Ken and seen the lust in his eyes and she had thought perhaps she could get information from him.

She had allowed him to think he seduced her. He was an energetic if unskilled lover, and later Jun realized he needed a mother more than a woman. Ken began to pour out his heart to her when she cuddled him and made sympathetic little sounds. He told of his hatred for Matt because Hiroaki had always held Matt up to Ken as an example of what he should be.

"And he had never even met him!" Ken had shouted. "He compared _me_ to a boy he had never met. This Yamato was better than I was because of his weak mother. But I was the rightful King of Draconia and I would have been chosen except for…" He had looked away.

"Have some more wine," Jun had said. "Why was the foreigner chosen over you?"

Jun had listened with some awe when told of Susanoo's Gate that Matt had opened.

Ken had talked to her most of the night until at last he had fallen asleep. Jun had listened to his talk with only half an ear because she was thinking that if Matt were dead, this angry young man would become king. How easy it would be to marry this man and be his queen. She would be queen of the Blackhearts and the Misthearts, and they could destroy the Og'rilahs and Frenzyhearts. The other two tribes, the Inkhearts and the Shatterhearts, could gradually be forced out of Draconia, and eventually Jun would be queen of it all.

But the boy had awakened and followed her, killed one of her best guardsmen, and ruined her plans. He had been rather appealing in his anger when he had tied her up. If he had just allowed her to speak, she knew she could have persuaded him to listen to her but he reacted like a little boy betrayed by his mother. Only this boy was a large, strong man.

He had made the mistake of taking her to Matt. Damn that man. He may be hardheaded and believe he is connected to God, but he certainly was clever. Jun had meant to find some way to tell her guardsmen she was being taken against her will, but she had allowed her vanity to get in her way. When she returned, she would teach that guard of hers who was old. She smiled in anticipation.

But now she had to do something to get the young Prince Ken back on her side. If she could find the right words, the two of them could rule Draconia together. Perhaps they could take Koushiro, or perhaps she could marry him, take the power and fill the land with Blackhearts, and then dispose of him.

But first she needed help getting rid of Matt and that pesky Mimi. Ken would have to help her.

---------------

Mimi woke an hour before dawn, nodded to Sora who stood watch, and quietly made her way down the steep slope toward the stream at the bottom. She wanted to bathe some of the travel dirt from her body before the day started. She undressed and washed in the dim light, and she had just her tunic on when she heard a noise behind her.

She reached for her knife.

"Please don't throw it," said Matt from the darkness, and she could read his thoughts from the tone of his voice. Immediately her skin began to warm.

She let the knife fall to her side and watched as he slowly rose from his seat on the bank. It was obvious that he had been sitting there for a long while, absolutely silent, as he had watched her bathe. The knowledge of this, for some reason, excited her.

He came toward her slowly, his big body and his dark blond hair reminding her of a story she had once heard from a man who had traveled far south and seen lions. Muscles in his big shoulders moved as he came toward her. His eyes were dark, but what little light there was glinted on them. She could feel her own breath coming deeper as her own muscles seemed to expand.

When he was only an arm's length from her, she opened her arms to him and he held her against him. His hands slipped down to her bare buttocks and he lifted her so that her legs straddled his waist. She clung to him as he walked with her, stopping when her back was against a tree, and when she was braced, he lifted her and set her down on his manhood.

Because of her position, she could not move very well so he moved her as if she were a doll. His hands gripped her waist and lifted her up and down while her back jammed against the rough bark of the tree, her head back, her hands on his shoulders, her fingers biting into his skin.

Their coupling was almost violent as he thrust into her with might and Mimi received him with desire and wanting as she held on to his waist with all her muscles in her powerful legs.

When at last they finished together, he collapsed against her, pressing Mimi between the tree and his heavy, limp body, but she did not release her hold of him.

After some minutes, he lifted his head from her neck to sweetly kiss her lips. "Good morning," he whispered.

She smiled at him. "Good morning to you."

He still held her against the tree as he moved his hands to stroke her bare legs.

"You were watching me?" she asked. "I did not sense you. If you had been—"

He kissed her to stop her words. "I was not. I told Sora to let no one leave the camp except to come down here where I could watch them."

"But I could have protected myself without—" she began, but he kissed her again.

"Shall we bathe again? I would like to join you in the water."

Mimi could feel herself blushing. It seemed odd to be so intimate with this foreigner. When he moved her from the tree, she uncrossed her ankles, but he did not let her get down as he held her for a while and stroked her back under the tunic and her bare legs. Then he moved his head back and smiled at her in a way that seemed almost more intimate than their fierce coupling.

"Duty calls," he said sadly. "The others will be awake soon." He let her down and gently pushed her toward the water.

She removed her tunic and once again stepped into the water. Behind her she heard Matt sigh as if his heart were breaking and Mimi smiled in satisfaction. He entered the water behind her and dove under to wet his hair.

The sun was beginning to rise now and, as always, the first rays seemed to seek out Matt's golden hair.

"You…" she began tentatively, "you seem to know many ways of… of joining for a man and woman. You have had many teachers?"

Matt smiled happily at her, pleased whenever she talked of anything besides war and politics. "A few," he said smugly. "A prince, even a prince of a country as remote as Draconia, is sought after back home."

"Ah, the women wanted you because you are a prince."

"Were," he said. "I'm king now, but, no, they wanted me for my person."

"I see. They admired your skill on the training field. It is so here. Tai is an excellent fighter."

"No," he said with annoyance in his voice. "The women admired me for…" He hesitated.

"For what?" she urged.

"For my looks," he said quickly. "Mimi, some women find me to be pleasing to look at."

"You are as tall as Draconian, but your paleness is difficult to adjust to. But perhaps all foreigners are colorless."

"I am not colorless," he snapped, then shook his head. "Mimi, will you always make me feel less than a man? Will you always find other men better looking, better fighters or less of a fool than you think I am? Will you ever follow me without question, merely because you believe in me?"

"I do not think so," she said after a moment's thought. "One must always think for one's self. We Misthearts are taught to think for ourselves. Would you follow me without hesitation? You have not done so yet."

"Of course not, because you are a woman," he said angrily.

"Do I have less of a brain than you?" she snapped. "I will follow you when I believe you to be right. I will not follow you merely because the sun touches your hair rather prettily."

Matt looked as if he were about to make an angry reply, but his expression changed and he smiled. "So you do think I'm handsome," he said softly.

"Handsome does not matter," she answered.

"Oh? Then why did you allow me to caress you that first day we met? I do not think you had ever allowed another man to touch you so. Even your precious Tai. I see the way he looks at you. He no doubt chose you because you could handle a weapon better than any other woman."

"It is how I won you," she said, and started toward the bank.

He caught her arm and they stood together, unclothed, on the bank. "You are afraid to let yourself love me, aren't you, Mimi?" he said softly.

She tried to pull away from him. "That's ridiculous. We had better get back. The others will be awake now and we must travel."

He still held her arm. "_Why_ are you afraid to love me? Are you afraid you will lose yourself in me?"

She turned to stare at him. "How romantic your thoughts are, husband. Is this part of your knightly training? You are right: I do not want to love you, but it is because you do not have long to live. You walk into situations that your mind cannot understand, and so far your innocence, or perhaps it is God, has protected you, but you cannot last long. If Koushiro does not kill you, someone will soon."

Matt looked at her as if she had slapped him, but then he began to smile. "I will never accustom myself to your direct speech." He released her arm so she could dress. "I am going to surprise you, Mimi, because I am going to live. I am not only going to live but I am going to accomplish what I have set out to do. Before I die I am going to unite the tribes of Draconia."

She had just slipped her tunic over her head when he pulled her into his arms. "You may deny what you feel for me but they are empty denials," he said. "Your body has always recognized me as its partner; only your mind is not as smart as your body." He began to kiss her, his hands on her back. "You were to marry your Tai—who you respect so highly—but I do not believe he ever kissed you and made you feel as I do. Your mind will come to me, Mimi. It is only a matter of time."

She turned her head away from his kisses, but she was not strong enough to move out of his arms. "You should not be king," she whispered. "You are only half-Draconian. I do not understand you. None of us understands you. You should return to your own precious little country before your meddling starts a war."

"And take you back with me?" he asked. "Take you to a place where a woman is valued for her household skills and not for her ability to outwrestle other women?"

She gave a great push and moved away from him. "I would stay here. I am Draconian." Even as she said it, she felt a sudden ache. To never see him again, to never see him smile, to never again see that look that told her she had done something that seemed strange to him. To never feel his arms around her again.

She turned to look at him. He wore only a loincloth, and the sight of his big, muscular body with its covering of thin blond hair made her want to touch him. Suddenly, she straightened. She had to control herself. She had to force her mind to govern her body. She was a guardswoman, not some silly cow maiden who fell in love with the first pair of broad shoulders that she saw. Nor could she afford to follow this man blindly. It was not just herself involved, but an entire country. What she and Sora, Tai and Ken did on this trip would affect all of Draconia. If they acted stupidly or hastily, they could cause the deaths of many people. Whatever she did, she must keep her mind clear. She could love this Matt but not with the blind love he spoke of. She could never follow him merely because he said, "Come." She must watch and wait and see what he planned and she must never, never allow what they did in the dark to influence what she thought during the day.

She resisted the urge to touch him. "We must return," she said softly, and turned away to finish dressing.

He kissed her once before they returned to the others but she managed to control her reaction to him and keep her head and body cool.

"It will be easier to conquer Draconia than to conquer you," he said with a sigh. "Now go on, get up the hill. I fear to leave our brother with Jun too long or she may persuade him to put a knife to my throat as I sleep."

"You misjudge him!" Mimi snapped as she began the climb. "He has been trained from childhood, as I have, in the politics of Draconia."

"I know hatred when I see it in someone's eyes. Will you protect my back from your brother's knife? Who would you choose if it came to a choice between the two of us?"

Mimi stopped at that question for she had no idea what her answer was. Matt kept climbing and after a moment she followed him. Of course it would not come to a choice, for Matt would no doubt get himself—and perhaps the rest of their group—killed before he reached the Frenzyhearts' city. Once again, Mimi felt a little ache inside her breast at the thought of the loss of Matt, but she managed to control it. She must steel herself for the time when he would be gone.

---------------

(**A/N: **Here's another chapter that brings us closer to the end of the story. Three more chapters left and I'll have completed my first story. Hope you guys like it and to show for it, please review each chapter. I'd very much like to reach 100 reviews by the end of the story but I doubt it. But hey, it wouldn't hurt to try.)


	14. Death of a Prince

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 14  
Death of a Prince**

As they rode that day, each step taking them closer to Frenzyheart territory, each person grew more watchful. The road became steeper and in places so narrow the horses shied at having to travel it. They were traveling east toward the rising sun, with the mountains that hid the villages of the Inkhearts and the Shatterhearts to their left in the north.

No one spoke as they stayed alert for any noise not of their own making. Twice Mimi saw Jun looking at Ken in a hungry way and thought with disgust of the woman's appetites. One day Jun wanted Matt and the next she wanted Ken.

Perhaps it was Matt's words that made her doubt her brother, but she looked at Ken with appraising eyes. He sat stiffly on his horse, never once glancing in Jun's direction, but something in the way he carried himself made Mimi think Ken was very aware of Jun's gaze.

Mimi looked up to see Matt's eyes on her. He gave her a level gaze that for some reason embarrassed her and she looked away. The man was treacherous! He knew that his words had made Mimi watch her brother and now he was making her doubt him.

They camped that night in the crook of the river that was the boundary of the Frenzyheart territory. They did not build a fire but ate cold food then put their blankets onto the rocky ground and settled down to sleep. Ken had the first watch.

No sooner had Mimi gone to sleep than suddenly she was awake. The river was noisy and masked a great deal, but her senses told her something was wrong. She eased onto her elbow and looked about. Jun and Sora seemed to be asleep and she looked toward the deep shadows in some rocks where Ken hid and guarded. Matt had moved his blankets away from the others and she could not see him. She looked at Tai and knew he was awake.

Tai lay where he was but his hand moved to point toward Matt's place in the trees then toward the narrow trail leading into the Frenzyhearts' land. Mimi felt her heart begin to beat faster. For some reason he had ridden alone into enemy territory.

Mimi eased out of the blankets, signaled Tai to stay with Jun and Sora, then crept toward the horses. She knew Matt would ride directly to Koushiro's city, so she mounted bareback and began to ride, slowly and softly at first then with more speed and vigor the farther away from the camp she got.

She had not gone far when Matt shot out of the trees on his horse with the fury of anger.

"Damn you, Mimi!" he yelled at her. "You are worse than a possessive mother. Go back to the others _now!_"

"You left without protection," she said, her horse dancing about. "And you are in enemy land. Koushiro's men will kill you and they will not question whether you are a king with a noble purpose or not."

He seemed to be trying to calm his temper. I am looking for the messenger I sent. He was to travel along this back road, the road the Misthearts use to steal the Frenzyheart horses, and he should have reached us by now."

"The Frenzyhearts will not let your messenger live—that is, if he ever reached their king."

"_I_ am king. Koushiro is— hell, Mimi, I don't have time to argue with you. I know you won't return, so ride with me. And watch my back," he called over his shoulder.

She smiled in the darkness as she began to follow him. Perhaps he was learning some Draconian ways after all.

They rode along the rocky path for an hour, the moon their only source of light, when Matt raised his hand to halt. When he dismounted, so did she, and as silently as possible they led their horses down the steep ridge and tied them to a tree.

"I saw the light of a fire ahead," Matt whispered. "Stay close to me and do not do anything foolish."

"_You_ have ridden alone into enemy territory," she reminded him. Even in the darkness she could see his warning look.

For such a big man he could certainly move silently, she thought as she followed him along the ridge. And his eyesight was excellent, since they were some distance from the flat place in the trail where the fire burned.

She and Matt hid behind trees and surveyed the scene for a while before moving. Three men squatted around the fire, gnawing on the remains of a rabbit. They looked tired and their clothes were torn and patched and repatched, as if they had been wearing them for years.

Mimi recognized them for Frenzyhearts. They were small men, half a foot shorter than the Misthearts, but as anyone who had fought them knew, they had a wiry strength that was formidable in battle. They were pale men with brows that nearly grew together and their legs had the characteristic bow of the Frenzyhearts. It was said that at three years of age a Frenzyheart child was set on a horse and never again allowed off. They were said to love their horses more than each other and that if a Mistheart on foot met a Frenzyheart on horse, the Mistheart should pray for a swift death.

Mimi turned toward where Matt was hiding. He was staring at her and he nodded his head toward the distant trees on the far side of the Frenzyhearts' fire. She could barely make out the outline of another person, and as she started, she thought the person seemed to be tied to the tree. She looked in question to Matt and he nodded. So, here was his messenger, trussed like a goose for feast day. She couldn't tell whether the man was alive or dead.

For all that Matt was a foreigner, Mimi was beginning to be able to understand him. Without saying a word, he directed her to the other side of the Frenzyhearts' camp while he stealthily made his way through the trees toward the man they held prisoner.

It seemed to Mimi that Matt was gone for a long time and she jumped a bit when he at last moved into the shadows beside her.

"They have Iori," Matt whispered.

Mimi could not see Matt's face but she knew the anguish he must be feeling. Iori was the son of Hiroki, the prince of the Og'rilahs, the boy Matt had pledged his life to keep safe. She thought it was a foolish thing to have sent this valuable young man into Frenzyheart territory as a messenger, but she did not tell Matt this. For now she would hold her tongue.

Matt motioned to her that he wanted to take the three Frenzyhearts so he could rescue the Og'rilah boy, and for a moment Mimi thought he meant to try to take them by himself. Mimi gave him a level look that told him what she thought of his plan.

He grimaced in resignation, then said, "No killing," under his breath and disappeared into the trees.

She sat absolutely still and waited for him to give a signal that they were to begin. Her heart was pounding as it always did before any contest of skills, but now there seemed to be something else. She was worried that Matt would be all right. She prayed that now was not the time when he would be killed. She offered a prayer to his god, then, just to be safe, she asked the Draconian god of war to watch out for her well-meaning foreign husband.

Matt did not attack in a subtle way, but stepped forward into the circle of light of the fire, his sword in his left hand, and said, "I am the King of Draconia, put down your weapons."

All three of the tired Frenzyhearts leaped up at once and ran toward Matt. Mimi came from the trees behind them and brought the back of her battle-ax down on one Frenzyheart's head. The man crumpled at her feet, and before she could turn, a second Frenzyheart had her about the waist.

He was strong—very strong—Mimi admitted as she struggled against the man's hold on her. His arms were forcing the breath from her body. She brought her heels back and her elbows slammed into his ribs, but the man didn't let go. To her left, Mimi could hear the sounds of steel against steel as Matt fought the third Frenzyheart.

The man holding her kept tightening his grip, and Mimi tried to keep her lungs open to breathe but she was failing in her attempt. She was losing strength and she could feel herself growing limp in the man's grasp as the pressure continued. Her eyes closed and she felt nothing.

"Mimi! Mimi!"

She wakened to find herself on the ground, her upper body in Matt's arms as he slapped her face and shouted at her. She stirred in his arms and tried to sit up but he held her fast.

"Mimi, are you all right?"

"Yes," she said impatiently. "If you don't crush me now." She rubbed her sore ribs. "I could not breathe."

"Why did I allow a woman to help me fight?" he said woefully, still clutching her.

She pushed away from him to sit up. "Because I knocked one man out and kept the second busy while you were still trying to subdue the first man." She rubbed the back of her neck. "If we had just sent arrows into them—"

Matt stood and looked at the three unconscious Frenzyhearts on the ground around them. "They are my people the same as the Misthearts." He turned away to the tree where the boy Iori was, and Mimi followed him.

At first the boy seemed to be dead, but upon closer inspection he was only sleeping very deeply, for the sounds of battle had not wakened him. Matt knelt to him. The boy was not tied to the tree as Mimi had thought. She also knelt before the boy and the smell was overpowering.

"He's _drunk_," she said with disgust. "He's not a captive, he's merely a drunken boy."

Matt shook the boy awake.

Iori rolled his eyes, smacked his dry mouth, and then smiled stupidly at Matt. "My father will be proud of me," he slurred. "I went to Koushiro."

"And Koushiro didn't kill you?" Mimi asked, aghast.

The boy grinned and closed his eyes briefly. "Said I was brave. I told him about Jun." The boy moved his hands to make a female shape in the air. "Koushiro says he'll marry her." He leaned toward Mimi, his foul breath making her pull her head back. "They will be a funny pair. He's a little man, but then Jun's not as young and pretty as you, Mimi. If you had a sister, I would marry her. I would then be related to my king."

Mimi raised her eyebrows at Matt. "Your king? You mean your father Hiroki?"

The boy gave her a crooked smile. "King Yamato. King of all Draconia. King of—"

"Where is Jou?" Matt said impatiently, ignoring the way Mimi was looking at him over the boy's obvious hero worship. "I sent Jou to take the message to Koushiro."

"I tied Jou up. I couldn't stay there with all those Misthearts. My father expects me to be a man—like you. I had three older brothers and they got killed when my father sent them on raids." He leaned toward Mimi. "I attacked this Mistheart king, but I lived. Now I have to do more. I have to prove I can be as good a man as my father and I have to prove myself to you, King Yamato. Have I done so?"

Matt put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You have pleased me and, yes, I believe you to be a man," he said softly.

"So you rode alone into Frenzyheart territory," Mimi said, then looked at Matt. "Your innocence is affecting us all." She turned back to Iori. "Why didn't Koushiro kill you?"

Iori's expression changed to one of sadness. "They are very poor. Koushiro says everyone steals their horses, so they must move all the time. They cannot plant crops and last winter they were very sick. Many died. They need women." Iori's young face brightened. "My father will give them _all_ of our women if they want. We will take the Mistheart women."

"So Koushiro accepts us?" Matt asked.

Iori's head lolled to one side as he nearly fell asleep. "Those three are to take you to Koushiro. Did you kill them? One is Koushiro's kin. For little men, they sure can drink." He closed his eyes, his head falling forward, and went back to sleep.

Tenderly, Mimi eased him to the ground. "I never noticed what a handsome young boy he was," she said.

"Not colorless like some of us?" Matt snapped. "Now, if you can stop mothering that child, we had better see to the Frenzyhearts. I thank God I did not have to kill one of them."

Mimi smiled at him as she patted Iori's cheek. "He is actually close to my age, so I guess he is a boy no longer. And he was very brave to go to Koushiro alone."

"He is brave when he goes alone, yet I am foolish," Matt muttered, and left her to see to the Frenzyheart men.

Mimi smiled at his back, loving his jealousy. For all his faults, this husband had a way of making her feel… well, beautiful. Not that beauty was of any use whatsoever but it was a rather nice feeling.

One of the Frenzyhearts was beginning to stir as he rubbed his sore head. Matt sent Mimi off to fetch water while he looked after the men. She returned to see Matt holding a sword on the men while they glared at him. But Mimi wasn't surprised when, as they listened to Matt's explanation, their faces began to change. Mimi thought that Matt's words just might be able to coax flies off dead meat.

When Mimi stepped into the light, the men looked up at her and one kept staring. She knew he was the man who had nearly killed her, and they exchanged looks of gratitude that they were both alive.

Mimi sat by the fire, behind the Frenzyhearts but where she could see if they went for their weapons, and listened to Matt talk. Idly, she pulled a leg off a roasted rabbit and gnawed at it, then tore off a chunk of stale bread. The fire, the exercise, the safety, and most of all, Matt's voice was making her sleepy. She stretched out on the ground, sleepily pulled one of the sheepskins that the Frenzyhearts used for horse blankets over her, and went to sleep.

She woke, but not fully, when Matt picked her up in his arms. For just a moment she fought against him but then she settled against him, snuggling her head against his broad, hard chest, and let herself drift back into sleep. She was not conscious of it but somewhere in her mind she knew she was safe. He had done several things that she knew were foolish, but he had made them work. He had befriended Hiroki of the Og'rilahs, persuaded the Blackheart queen to allow her people to marry into the Misthearts, and now the Frenzyhearts were listening to him.

She opened her eyes. "Do you _really_ talk to God?"

Matt gave her a look of puzzlement. "I am only a man and I need help from wherever I can get it."

She closed her eyes again and went back to sleep. She didn't wake until it was almost daylight. Matt lay beside her, sound asleep, his big arms wrapped around her as if she were a child's toy. Slowly, trying not to disturb him, she tried to untangle herself.

"Do not leave my sight," he said, not opening his eyes and tightening his hold on her.

"I _need_ to go," she said pointedly.

He still didn't open his eyes. "To that tree there and no farther," he said. "I do not want to fight anyone for you today."

She shut her mouth on a sharp retort and went to the tree. When she returned, he was still lying there, still looking as if he were asleep. "We must get back to the others," she said. "Tai and Sora will worry, and where are those Frenzyhearts and Hiroki's son? Do you plan to stay here all day?"

His hand shot out and caught her ankle. "Mimi, do you not sometimes want to lie all day on the bank of a pretty stream and watch the butterflies?"

She smiled down at him. "Perhaps, but it cannot be done today. Ken will—"

"Oh no!" Matt gasped, coming to his feet. "I had forgotten that brother of yours. He will kill the Frenzyhearts without giving them a chance to explain. Mount and ride!" he ordered her.

Mimi had trouble getting her bearings because she had been asleep last night when Matt had carried her from the camp. She hastily gathered their few belongings, mounted her horse bareback, and went after Matt.

Minutes later she saw that Matt's fears were justified. Damnation, but she hated to admit even to herself that he was right.

Ken was always an excellent fighter, but when his temper was aroused he was fearless. He had managed to capture all three Frenzyhearts, no doubt sneaking up on them while they slept, and he was now threatening their lives if they did not tell him how they had murdered his sister.

Mimi came into the clearing just in time to see Matt throw a knife that landed in the dirt between Ken's feet. Mimi knew there was going to be a fight. She kicked her horse forward but it was already too late. Even years later she would not be sure what happened next. The Frenzyhearts, who had come in peace, had already been attacked twice in a few hours, and their anger was directed at Ken. When they saw their chance, they leaped, weapons ready. Young Iori, who was roused from a drunken sleep, looked up and saw the confusion, not really understanding who was attacking whom. To him it must have looked as if his beloved King Yamato was in danger.

Iori ran, sword drawn, and put his body in front of Matt's. A Frenzyheart lunged at Ken, missed as Ken sidestepped, and his sword pierced Iori's chest. Had he not been there, Matt would no doubt have been killed.

For a moment time seemed to stand still. Iori fell to the ground without a sound while everyone stood as if frozen.

Matt reacted first, kneeling and taking the boy into his arms.

"You will tell my father that I did not die in vain," the dying boy whispered.

"I will tell him," Matt said softly.

Slowly, painfully, Iori put his hand up to Matt's shoulder. "I have not lived without purpose. I have died for my king." His lifeless body collapsed in Matt's arms.

"This will mean war," Ken said with unconcern as he sheathed his sword.

Mimi turned to look at her brother and could see the look of near glee in his eyes. He was _glad_ of this boy's death, glad of the war to come, glad that Hiroki would now kill Matt. In that moment Mimi knew Ken cared nothing for Draconia but merely for himself and his own sense of power.

Mimi looked at Matt as he still held the boy, but she could not read his expression. His face may as well have been carved out of cool marble for all the emotion he betrayed. No doubt he too worries about the war, she thought.

Very slowly, Matt tenderly picked up the boy in his arms and walked with him into the forest.

"We had better ride," Ken began. "Hiroki will—"

Mimi glared coldly at her brother. "You will remain here and you will wait for him, and if you harm anyone, I will kill you," she said through her teeth.

"But Mimi—" Ken began.

She walked away from him, through the trees toward where Matt had carried Iori. Sora called her to leave Matt alone but Mimi wanted to find him. They would talk about what must be done now that the boy was dead.

She walked for some time before she found him and she did not approach him when she saw him. To her, it was a strange scene. Matt had stretched Iori's body on a rock, as if it were an altar, and Matt was on his knees before the boy's body.

Mimi stood absolutely still but Matt did not turn to her as he knelt there, his face in his hands. It took her a while to realize that Matt was crying.

Her body was paralyzed as she watched him. She had never seen a man cry before, had seen very few women cry, but the sounds coming from Matt were unmistakable. She did not go to him, did not have any idea what one did with a crying man.

She stepped behind a tree and waited and watched. She did not want to leave him, but she did not understand his reaction to the death of this boy. Was he afraid of the death Hiroki had promised him? Did the prospect of war make foreign men cry?

Her head came up when she heard Matt begin to speak. He was talking to that God he seemed to believe was his friend. She strained her ears to hear what he said.

"I have failed, God," Matt said softly. "I have failed my father, my country, I have even failed my wife."

Mimi frowned at this and listened harder.

"I begged to be released from this task," Matt said, "I told you I was not worthy of it. I am a coward and lazy, just as my old tutor said. I cannot unite this country. It is not mine to unite."

He put his head in his hands and cried again. "Mimi saw through me. Mimi knew that I would fail. Oh, God, I was not the one to be chosen for this. Better that someone else had been born my father's son. Now this boy has died for me, to save my worthless soul. I cannot go on. I will leave Draconia to true Draconians. Forgive me, Father, for having failed you."

Mimi leaned against the tree and found that there were tears in her eyes as well. She never knew he doubted himself. How could he believe himself to be a coward? He was walked against Hiroki's army alone. How could he doubt that he was the true king after all he had done in so short a time?

How could she have doubted him? What more must he do to prove himself? Why hadn't she sided with him from the beginning? She prided herself on her logic and clear thinking but she had never thought clearly about Matt. She had fought him every step of the way.

More tears came to her eyes. Was it because, as Matt had said, she was afraid of loving him? Had she fought him not out of logic but because of a weak emotion such as love? Had she perhaps loved him from that first tempestuous meeting at the riverside? Maybe then she had known that he had the power to take her soul from her.

Matt was still crying and suddenly Mimi knew she had to do something to keep him from leaving Draconia. She had a vision of what would happen if Matt were not there trying to unite the tribes. If Ken were king, he would plunge the country into war.

And Mimi would… she thought she might die without this man. How used to his soft, tender ways she had become. How used to his strength. No matter how she ridiculed him, how she fought him, he always had the strength of his belief in himself. Now she saw that he had doubted himself all along. Why hadn't she _helped_ him?

She looked around the tree at Matt and saw the slump in his shoulders, saw the defeat in his body. She had to help him now.

But how? A foreign woman would no doubt hold him and caress him, and Mimi was surprised that that is what she wanted to do. She wanted to put her arms around him and let him cry on her shoulder while she stroked that fine hair of his.

And make him feel worse, she thought. To offer him sympathy would be the worst thing she could do. She had to somehow make him believe in himself again.

Matt was standing now and looking at the body of Iori. Mimi felt tears in her eyes again as she looked at Matt's ravaged face. He did care about Draconia, not just the Misthearts, but all of Draconia, that he could grieve so over this one boy. Hiroki had been right to allow Matt to be raised out of the country. Hiroaki had been right and Mimi had been more than wrong.

And now she had to do something about having been so loudly wrong.

Quietly, she slipped through the trees, away from Matt, then turned and acted as if she were just coming toward him. She made a great deal of noise but Matt did not turn toward her as he merely stood there, his back to her, looking down at Iori's cold face.

She straightened her shoulders. "What are you doing here?" she demanded belligerently. "We must ride to the Frenzyhearts."

Matt did not turn around, and she almost put her hand out to touch his hair, but she withdrew it.

"What is this?" she asked loudly, gesturing toward Iori's body. "You mourn this boy? Or is it Hiroki's wrath you fear? When it comes to war, we Misthearts will win."

"There will be no war," Matt said softly. "I will give myself to Hiroki. I hope I can appease him."

Mimi winced but said, "Good! Then Ken will at last be king."

Matt didn't react.

"As he should have been all along," she said, but still got no reaction from Matt. "But tell me, before your sacrifice, do we go to the Frenzyhearts or not? Do we leave Koushiro waiting for Jun?"

"It is no longer my concern. I am not Draconian."

The sympathy she felt for him was leaving her. She frowned. "That is true. A Draconian would never have started this absurdity of uniting tribes. It can never be done."

"Perhaps by someone other than me," he said sadly. "I was the wrong choice."

"Yes you were. Ken will do a much better job than you. He will have no trouble uniting everyone. _He_ will not cause the death of innocent boys." She watched Matt's face and she thought she saw some sign of life.

He turned to look at her. "Ken unite the tribes?"

"Yes, of course. He will do a grand job, don't you think? Jun has already seen his power and she knows how strong he is. Koushiro has only to see it also."

"Jun has seen Ken's power?" Matt asked. "But Jun…"

"Oh yes, I can see it in her eyes. She fears my brother."

"She means to have him on a platter. She will marry that stupid boy and rule all of Draconia." There was light returning to Matt's eyes.

"What does it matter to you? You will be dead. You will have sacrificed yourself for this dead boy."

Matt looked back at Iori's body and his face fell again. "Yes, that is true. Ken will make an excellent king, I am sure."

"If he wins," Mimi said.

"Wins?"

"Being married to a king has given me a taste of power. I shall marry Tai and perhaps we will fight Jun for control of her tribe. Perhaps I shall be queen of all Draconia yet." She smiled. "Yes, I like that idea."

Matt turned to look at her and the sadness in his eyes began to change. It changed to hate and the hate was directed toward her. "War," he whispered. "War and power are all you Draconians think of. You would wage war on your own brother to gain power. For your own selfish wants you would cause the death of thousands of people. You do not care about Draconia."

"And you do? You would leave what you have started behind and sacrifice yourself to Hiroki?"

"I must," he said softly. "I gave the man my word. A knight's word is his bond."

"You truly are not Draconian," she spat at him. "You are purely foreign and I am glad you go to die. We need no cowards such as you who cannot finish what they start. Go then. Go to Hiroki. Go back home. Go to the devil for all I care." She turned on her heel and stormed away from him.

She didn't go far, just until she was out of sight of him and then she stopped. Great sobs began to well inside her, and before she knew what she was doing, she sank to her knees and began to cry. It was as if all the tears that had been denied her all her life were coming to the surface. Her shoulders heaved, her hands clenched. She fell forward into the dirt and cried harder. She would die if Matt gave himself to Hiroki, but she could not tell him that. He did not need sympathy, so she had not given it. He had needed her anger, but she had not been prepared for the look of hate in his eyes.

After a while, she lifted herself and went back to the camp. The others were sitting about quietly and looked up with hope in their eyes when they heard Mimi. But when they saw she was not Matt, they looked away.

They need him as much as I do, Mimi thought.

Sora came toward her and Mimi turned her face away. "Have you been… crying?" Sora asked in disbelief. "What have you done to him?"

Mimi could tell no one, not even a friend as close as Sora, of what she had seen. How could a Draconian understand a man who cried like an infant? Yet Mimi had understood. Did that mean she was not wholly Draconian?

"Merely smoke in my eyes," Mimi said. "He will return soon, I think," she added.

It wasn't long before Matt returned. His hair was wet, as if he had been bathing, and he ordered everyone to prepare to ride. The Frenzyhearts stood apart, and Matt went to them and talked quietly for a long while. Mimi saw him pointing out the different people in the group and, Mimi thought, no doubt guaranteeing their safety with his own life.

She watched him closely and she could detect a difference in his eyes, an emptiness that wasn't there before, but he looked as if he were ready to resume command.

She waited until he looked at her so she could smile at him.

But Matt did not look at Mimi.

All day they rode and he never once looked at her. Did he not understand that she had said what she had on purpose to enrage him? That she wanted to spur him out of his misery? Tonight, she thought, tonight she would get him alone and he would touch her again, perhaps even make love to her.

But it was not to be. They camped and Matt avoided her. She asked him to walk with her into the trees, but he said he had to stay with the Frenzyhearts.

"I cannot leave them with your brother," he said, then looked at her with cold eyes. "Or perhaps I should call him the Rightful King." Before Mimi could say a word, Matt left her standing alone.

Sora saw Mimi standing there and ordered her to unsaddle the horses and Mimi went about the familiar task blindly.

"You have hurt him," Sora said.

"I have helped him but he does not know it," Mimi looked across the firelight to where Matt sat sharpening his sword. "I am—"

"—a fool," Sora said, taking her saddle and walking away in anger.

Mimi had her own attack of self-pity. Did no one believe she was capable of at last seeing the light? She sat quietly with the others by the fire that night and took her turn at watch near dawn, but Matt made no attempt to speak to her privately. He gave her duties and orders like he did the others.

No one else besides Sora seemed to notice any difference because Matt was treating her as Draconian men treated their women: as equals. But Mimi had grown rather used to Matt's protectiveness and the way he thought of her as soft and fragile.

And she also missed their lovemaking.

On the morning of the third day, just before dawn, she saw Matt slip from the camp and make his way into the trees. Feeling a little tentative at what she was doing, she followed him.

She half expected him to leap from the trees and curse her for leaving the protection of the others, but he did not. He was squatted by the side of a stream, bare to the waist and washing himself.

He did not turn around. "What do you want, Mimi?" he asked, his voice as cool as the mountain stream.

She almost turned back to the camp but she made herself go forward to kneel beside him and drink of the water. The sky was just barely pink. "We have not spoken in days and I thought…" She put out her hand to touch his shoulder, but he looked at her hand in such a way that she removed it.

"I was not aware that Draconian men and women talked," he said. "I believe your job is to guard my back."

She frowned, utterly confused by him. "But we are also married."

"I see. So, it is the bedding that you want from me. I am to carry steel in my hands and between my legs and that is all you want."

"If that is what you believe of me, so be it," she said angrily, and left him alone. Was she supposed to explain to him why she had done what she had? Did he really believe she wanted him dead?

Again, tears came to her eyes, but she blinked them away. Damn him! Why did she love a man who made her cry?

(**A/N: **So I took waaaay longer than usual. Hope this long chapter satisfies. The final two and a half chapters are coming soon. Working on them already. Thank you for the support and please continue to show your love and review!

**Chris, love, this chapter is for you. **I know about that ordeal with the plagiarism of PO but I hope my updating encourages your writing. I simply cannot wait for the prom chapter!)


	15. The Shattered

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 15  
The Shattered**

Matt did not look at her when he returned to camp and Mimi stiffened her shoulders as if his ignorance of her was a physical blow. Her head and body ached when she at last lay down to sleep. It was because of Mimi's turbulent thoughts that she was awake when the others slept and she saw "them" come into the camp. At first she thought she was dreaming, for the people were more shadow than flesh and blood. And they moved without sound, slipping through darkness as silently as a fish through water.

With wide, unbelieving eyes, she saw one of the small, thin, dark-clad figures bend and put something over Tai's mouth. But before she could rise up in anger and protest, something hit her on the head and she saw no more.

When she woke, she was awake of pain in her head and her back. Before she opened her eyes, she tried to move her hands but couldn't.

"Mimi. Mimi."

Painfully, Mimi opened her eyes to look at Sora. They were in the back of a wagon, under a tall wooden frame and on top of lumpy bags of grain, and what felt to be rocks.

"Mimi, are you all right?" Sora whispered.

Mimi tried to sit up, but her hands and ankles were tied together behind her. "Yes," she managed to whisper through a dry throat. "Where are we? Who has taken us? Where are the others?" She grimaced as the wagon hit a deep hole in the road and whatever was in the bag beneath her dug into her side.

"I don't know," Sora said. "I was asleep, and when I woke I was here."

Mimi struggled against her bonds. "I have to save Matt," she said. "He will try to talk his way out of this and they will kill him."

Sora gave a bit of a smile. "I think we should worry about ourselves now. If they have taken us prisoner, they must have taken the others. I hear other wagons. I think we should sleep now and try to keep what strength we have."

Mimi had difficulty sleeping because of her worry about Matt—and the others, she reminded herself. She prayed to Matt's god to protect him. It is too early for him to die, she prayed. He had work to do. And he needed her to protect him. What if he lost confidence again? Who would be there to help him?

She slept at last, but she dreamed of Matt being dead and, in the dream, she knew his death was her fault because she had never told him that she loved him.

The abrupt halting of the wagon woke her. Rough hands grabbed her ankles and pulled her from the wagon, her head hitting hard bags. More hands untied her so she could stand on the ground.

Shatterhearts, she thought as she stared at the thin little man standing before her, and all the horror stories she had ever heard came to her mind. Stories of the Shattered were told around the fire on cold, stormy nights. Parents threatened their children with the Shattered.

No one knew much about them really except that they were filthy beyond belief, sly, thieving, untrustworthy, and as far as anyone could tell, they had no concept of honor. Over the centuries the other tribes had done their best to ignore the Shattered. They lived high in the mountains in the northeast corner of Draconia and no one had any desire to see their city.

Yet there were rumors about the place. When Mimi was a child, an old man with an arm and an eye missing had told of being captured by the Shattered, and he had talked of a city of fabulous wealth. Everyone had laughed at him until he had slinked off into a corner and gotten drunk. Days later he had disappeared, never to be seen again.

Now, Mimi stood staring in the darkness at the filthy face of her captor, half hidden under a grimy hooded cloak. The ancient man held out a cup of liquid and a stale chunk of bread to her. Mimi took the food, and as the old man pulled Sora from the wagon, she looked about her. There were four other wagons and about them silently moved more of the cloaked figures, but they pulled no other prisoners from the wagons.

Mimi's throat swelled closed. "Where are the others?" she asked the man.

No one said a word but, silently, slicing through the darkness, came another figure and Mimi was slapped across the mouth. It didn't take much thought to realize she was to remain silent. She ate her bread, drank the musty-tasting beer, and she and Sora were allowed to relieve themselves in the trees, then they were shoved back into the wagons.

The motion of the wagon seemed to be endless and the days merged into one another. They stopped twice a day during the three-day journey and Mimi and Sora were given meager rations and a brief moment of privacy, then their bonds were retied and they were returned to the wagons.

After the first day Mimi and Sora didn't talk much, for their hunger, tiredness, and grief were almost too much to bear. Mimi was plagued by remorse. If only she had had time to explain to Matt why she said what she had said. If she could have told him she could not bear the thought of his death. Perhaps she should have held him while he cried. Maybe that would have worked best. If only…

"Do you think they killed the men?" Sora whispered. Her eyes were sunken in her head and she looked as bad as Mimi felt.

Mimi's throat swelled closed and she could not speak.

"No doubt they want women slaves," Sora said. "Jun was too old for their use, so they took us."

Mimi swallowed but it didn't help.

"Yes," Sora continued, answering her own question, "I think they killed the men. They would have come after us and these Shatterhearts could not fight our men."

Sora waited for Mimi's answer, but when none came, she kept talking. "We did not hear them come into camp. Even the Frenzyhearts who guarded did not hear them." She closed her eyes a moment. "Hiroki will declare war on the Misthearts when he hears his son is dead. And who will lead our people now that both Yamato and Ken are… gone?"

Mimi closed her eyes and envisioned Matt's blond hair. She remembered his smile. She remembered the way he tickled her the night they spent in his tent.

"We will never unite the tribes now," Sora said. "The Blackhearts will have lost Jun, Koushiro's brother is dead, Hiroki's son is dead." She also swallowed. "And our king is dead."

"Stop it!" Mimi commanded. "I can bear no more."

Sora looked at Mimi in puzzlement. "Is it grief that makes you so strange? Is it Yamato's death that…?"

"No more, please," Mimi whispered.

Sora was silent for a moment.

"We must keep our strength up," she said, trying to get Mimi's attention back on the present. "We have to find a way to escape these slimy people and get home. We have to tell the rest of Draconia what has happened. We will unite the other tribes to kill the Shattered. We will avenge Yamato's death. We will—" She said no more as she heard the sound of tears coming from Mimi. She had never seen Mimi cry before.

Mimi tried to sleep but could not. Hour after hour passed slowly and painfully, and she had time to remember every moment since she had met Matt. She thought of how she had reacted to him at their first meeting and later how angry she had been when she found out who he was. She had felt betrayed, as if he had lied to her and played with her feelings.

And she had been afraid. She hated to admit it even to herself, but the force of her emotions concerning the man scared her. She had been afraid she would follow him and betray her country, betray everything she had even believed in.

"Oh Matt," she whispered into the darkness as hot tears rolled down the side of her face. "If only I could have told you."

At the beginning of the fourth day the wagons halted and Mimi could hear the noise of people around them. Sora opened her eyes and looked at Mimi. Sora was fighting fear, but Mimi looked as if she had given up the battle. They had no idea what the Shattered planned for them, whether it was death or slavery, and Mimi didn't look as if she cared one way or the other.

"We will escape soon," Sora reassured her friend and herself. "Perhaps we can arrange a ransom."

Mimi didn't answer.

The women had time to say no more as they were pulled from the wagon and stood in the bright sunlight. As Sora blinked to adjust her vision, she was gaping wide-eyed at what she saw.

They were inside a walled city with neat, clean buildings against the inner wall. There were cleanly swept stone paths with no pigs or dogs running about. There were shops open in the bottom floor of the houses and people bustling here and there. Clean people, richly dressed people.

No, she thought, not people but women. Everywhere there were women, adult women, very few children, and what children there were were girls.

"Where are the men?" Sora whispered to Mimi.

Sora received no answer before one of the filthily clad guards shoved her forward and motioned to the bags inside the wagon. Mimi could see now that the guard was a woman, a small woman nearly a foot shorter then Mimi and thin to the point of frailty.

"What have you done with our men?" Mimi asked, showing her first signs of life.

"They are dead," the woman said in broken Mist dialect. "We want no men here." She shoved Mimi and Sora forward.

Mimi and Sora were weak from the long days of being tied and the small amount of food, so they were slow in removing the heavy bags of goods from the four wagons and stacking them inside a long stone building. All the while they worked more of the little Shattered women stopped and watched them and talked to each other in their strange guttural language.

Sora glared at two women who were pointing at the tall women and nodding their heads.

"I feel like an ox being judged for strength," Sora said to Mimi. She didn't say any more because one of the women held a whip under her nose and made her meaning clear.

It took most of the day to unload the wagons and, exhausted, Mimi and Sora were led away to a tiny, empty stone building that contained nothing but two sleeping cots. The building was surrounded by at least a dozen of the little Shattered women.

"Mimi," Sora whispered from her cot.

Mimi sniffed in answer.

"We must try to escape," Sora said. "We have to get home. We have to explain to people what happened before there is a war. We must get to Koushiro and… Mimi, are you listening to me? I see no way of escape and I am too tired to think."

"Why do you want to go to Koushiro?"

"To continue what Yamato started," she said as if Mimi should have known that. "We must find a way to unite the tribes. If for no other reason, we Misthearts will unite them to kill these Shatterhearts who sneak about and kill the King of Draconia."

To Sora's horror, Mimi's sniffles turned into full-fledged crying. Sora had no idea what to do. Tears were not something one dealt with much in Draconia. She turned on her side and tried to sleep. Perhaps tomorrow she could talk to Mimi about escaping.

Mimi also tried to sleep but she couldn't stop her tears. Draconia didn't seem to matter; Ken didn't matter; Koushiro's brother or Hiroki's son didn't matter. All she cared about was having lost the man she loved.

"And I didn't even get to tell him," she whispered to herself in the darkness. "Oh, if only I had another chance. I would be a _real_ wife to him." She cried herself to sleep.

Ken's laughter split the air and reverberated off the white marble walls of the Shatterheart palace. The three beautiful women before him smiled in delight as they looked at the ebony and ivory game board.

"You have won again, master," one woman fairly purred. "Which of us do you choose tonight?"

"All of you," Ken laughed. "Or perhaps I'll take three new women tonight."

"We are yours to choose," said a second woman.

The beautiful, luxurious Shatterheart palace was a product of centuries of "borrowing." The marble had been on its way to a cathedral in a neighboring country when the Shattered had silently attacked during the night, killing all the merchants and their hired guards, and had taken the wagonloads of marble through the mountains to their cities. They had even "borrowed" the stone masons, worked them to death, and then tossed their bodies off a mountainside.

The enormous room, long, narrow, tall, was walled with veined white marble and everywhere was evidence of the Shattered's skill at "borrowing." They were the scavengers of every battle. While the participants grieved over their dead, the Shattered moved about and took anything worth taking. They were like ants and could easily carry half again their body weight away with them. They raided cities without the cities knowing they were being invaded.

And they brought whatever they took back to their king and their city, so the palace was filled with wealth that was already ancient: beautiful swords, shields, tapestries, hundreds of embroidered cushions, gold cups (none of which matched), plates, candlesticks, eating knives. There was little furniture as that was more difficult to carry without notice, but there were some low, crude, long tables hidden beneath beautiful linen cloths. The guests sprawled on the cushions and watched the many women walk silently about the room in their soft slippers, hurrying without haste to do the bidding of each man. The three Frenzyhearts sat at one end of the room together, frowning slightly in disapproval. They ignored the ten or so women near them and ate sparingly of the food on their plates.

Ken leaned back from the game board and lounged against the pillows, one woman fanning him, another holding his feet in her lap and massaging them, two others gently massaging his calf muscles, another shelling almonds and feeding them to him, two others on either side of him running their soft hands up and down his hard chest, and one with her hand in his loincloth, massaging his manhood. Four other women stood by in case Ken should think of something else he wanted. He wore an expression of sublime happiness.

Tai sat farther down, engaged in intense conversation with a splendidly lovely woman, and from his expression he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

In stark contrast to the men behind the table, Matt stood by the windows at the east end of the room, staring down at the people and buildings of the walled city.

Tai excused himself from the woman and went to Matt. "Still worried about Mimi?" he asked.

Matt kept looking out the window and didn't answer.

"They said they left the women there," Tai said in the tone of a man repeating something for the hundredth time. "The Shatterhearts do not kill. They will steal anything, including the King of Draconia if they want him, but they are not murderers. They drugged all of us, took us, and left the women there. Why do you doubt them? They have no need of women, as you can see." Tai smiled at the pretty woman waiting at the table for him. "They want only the men." He couldn't control his smile. "We must give them what they want from us and be on our way. Perhaps we can take some of these women back with us."

Matt gave Tai a cool look. "You are being seduced by them."

Tai's eyes twinkled. "A time or two."

Matt looked back out the window. "I do not trust this man Junpei," he said, referring to the man who called himself king of the Shatterhearts. "And I do not like being held captive, no matter that the bonds are made of silk."

"You have said you wanted to unite the tribes. What better way to do that than to…"

"Impregnate their women?" Matt asked, frowning. "I believe I am better than to be used as a stud." He turned his head away, and Tai, shrugging, went back to his table.

Matt continued to stare out the window, cursing his helplessness. How could he fight women, especially such lovely, small women as these? Six days ago he had awakened to find himself in the back of a silk-clad wagon with a raging headache. He had shoved open the locked door with a few thrusts of his shoulder and the wagon had halted. He was greeted by six pretty little women who begged him not to be angry. Matt's anger had calmed somewhat when he saw that the other men were unhurt, but it returned when neither Mimi, Sora, nor Jun stepped from the wagons. The women said they had left the Mistheart women at the campsite.

It took most of a day to return to the campsite and it was indeed clean, as if the Mistheart women and Jun had packed and left. Matt was still not satisfied. He didn't like being drugged and locked in a wagon. He said he was going after the women.

At that the Shattered women began to cry. They promised Matt they would do _anything_ if he would return with them. They said they had heard how he was uniting all of Draconia but they knew he would not think of the Shatterhearts, that everyone hated the Shattered people, and they needed him more than any other tribe. They said they would even send a message to the Misthearts from Matt if he would just return with them.

Yamato the king and Matt the man were torn apart. As king he wanted to see this elusive tribe but as a man he wanted Mimi back. During the long journey Tai had told him that Mimi had gone after him after Iori's death, so Matt knew she must have seen him crying. He knew Draconians didn't cry.

Yet Mimi, a Draconian, had seen him cry and she had not ridiculed him or been disgusted with him. Instead, she had kicked him into once again believing in himself.

And he had not realized at the time what she was doing. His own sense of failure had turned to a rage that he directed at her. Matt ached for her and wanted to go find the women but Ken had started yelling at Matt and saying that if the Shatterhearts needed them they should go with the little women. Matt said Ken's thoughts were below his belt, and that had nearly caused a fight. Tai had stepped in and his calm counsel had made Yamato the king win over Matt the man. Tai said they were close to Koushiro, and Mimi and Sora would no doubt take Jun to Koushiro, and that Matt wasn't needed. Also, Matt could not afford to insult the Shatterhearts as he might never get another chance to enter their secluded mountain village peacefully.

Reluctantly, Matt went with the Shatterhearts.

Over the next few days, he, the only man who spoke the Shattered language, talked to the women. He was disturbed by the promiscuous nature of the women and had he been back home he would have forbidden his men to consort with them, but the Frenzyhearts, Ken, and even Tai slept with a different woman each night.

It was while the others were cavorting in the bushes that Matt got to talk to the two remaining unoccupied women and he heard some of the recent sad history of the Shatterhearts.

Fifteen years ago, a strange fever that was said to have come from the east struck nearly every person in the isolated Shatterheart villages. The women recovered quickly but man after man died, hundreds of men, in fact. When the fever was gone, only a quarter of the men were still alive and by the end of the next year it was found that these men could produce only female children. So for many years now, the Shatterhearts had been a city of women.

"Why didn't you go to the other tribes and ask for men?" Matt asked. "Surely men would have come with you."

"But King Junpei forbade it," she answered simply.

Matt began to get a picture of the remaining Shattered men loving having a city full of women to themselves, any of whom would go to bed with them in order to get a child.

When they arrived at the city, Matt's worst fears were reinforced when he saw Junpei, a fat, slimy young man surrounded by beautiful women. Matt cursed himself for having been convinced into believing what the women had said, that they wanted him merely to give them children and that they wanted to unite with the other tribes. Perhaps the women believed that, but Matt saw that greasy Junpei had no intention of sharing his private harem with other men. And Matt thought that, perhaps, Junpei meant for the foreign men to impregnate a few women, and then Matt and the others would be put to death.

If only Mimi had been with them, Matt thought. Her skepticism and cynicism would have made him think twice about going with the Shattered women. He cursed himself for being a fool—just like Mimi said he was. Now, the men with him thought only of how many women they could bed each night, but Matt saw beyond that. What was planned for them when their uselessness was over? Matt had to come up with a plan for escape because he sensed that the men would not be allowed to leave peacefully. Junpei would not like the information that the Shatterhearts were a city of women living near a palace containing great wealth to leave the Shatterheart boundaries. Junpei had worked hard to make the Shatterhearts seem poor. Whenever a Shatterheart left the border, she wore rags covered in filth. No one wanted to follow a Shatterheart to examine their city. And Junpei no doubt wanted to keep it that way so he could not allow Matt or his men to leave alive.

Matt kept staring out the window, and the more he thought, the more he worried. What had they done to Mimi? Why had he been so trusting? Why had he believed the tears of some deceiving pretty women? If _men_ had drugged him and locked him in a wagon and he had found out the women were not with them, he would have drawn a sword and removed a few limbs of the men and forced them to tell what they had done with Mimi. But like a sheep being led to slaughter he had docilely gone with the Shattered women and left Mimi on her own.

_If _she were on her own, he thought grimly. If they had not killed the women, for unlike Tai, he believed the Shattered capable of more than stealing. They wanted male children, so they captured a king and a couple of princes to use for stud service. They took whatever they wanted.

His face turned hard. I will give these women to the Og'rilah men, he thought angrily. Let us see if the conniving she-devils can manipulate Hiroki's men.

While he was thinking with so much fury, he became aware of some commotion in the street below. It was some distance away, across the rooftop of another building, but he could see some angry activity. One of the little Shattered women raised a whip and cracked it, hitting another person who was half hidden by the building.

As Matt watched, from the shadows came a third woman, a tall, beautiful woman, with a caramel braid flying out behind her, who leaped onto the smaller woman with the whip, pinning her down and punching her in the face.

"Mimi," Matt whispered, and almost climbed out the window to go after her, but some bit of sense made him stay where he was. With a pounding heart and his face showing his anguish, he watched silently as a dozen of the little women leaped on Mimi and knocked her to the ground. A moment later the Shattered led Mimi and Sora away, out of Matt's sight.

He leaned against the window casing and took deep breaths to calm himself. There was more treachery here than he thought, and he, fool that he was, had walked directly into it.

Tonight he must, somehow, escape these women and go to Mimi. And he must figure out a plan to get all of them away from the Shatterhearts safely.

(**A/N: **Sorry guys, I promised a quick update but I just moved to another state and my puppy had surgery the week before that. It's not a huge chapter, nor is it as interesting but an update is an update and the following chapter will conclude this story.

Hope you guys like it anyway. Please read and review. Thank you.)


	16. The Final

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Chapter 16  
The Final**

"Sore?" Sora asked Mimi softly.

Mimi shrugged in answer but the truth was, her shoulders and back hurt a great deal from the whip strokes of that afternoon.

They were alone in the little stone house again, this time their guard outside doubled because of what had happened that day. Sora had fallen under a heavy bag of grain, and when one of the Shatterhearts had cracked a whip over her, Mimi had leapt for the woman's throat. Mimi had received a dozen lashes with a whip for that and Sora had chided her for taking the punishment. They had been worked especially hard the rest of the day and only now, so late, were they allowed to rest.

But Sora's anger, reawakened, kept her awake. "We have to escape. I saw two women talking by the gate today when they should have been watching. If we could find a way to distract them, perhaps we could—"

She broke off at the look on Mimi's face and she turned. Standing in the doorway, lit from behind by torches, was a ghost—a thick, wide, golden ghost. Mimi blinked to clear her vision but the ghost remained there.

"Mimi?" the ghost whispered.

Sora was the first to recover. In spite of her exhaustion she leapt from the cot and flung her arms around Matt.

Sometimes Matt was angered by the way these Draconians treated him. He was their king but he got no "Your Majesty's," merely argument and challenges about his decisions. But at this moment he was glad for their sense of equality. He'd rather have a woman's arms about his neck than all the fawning in the world.

He hugged Sora back, feeling as if he were touching someone clean for the first time in days. How good it would be to hear the honest opinion of a woman instead of the meek subservience of the Shatterheart women.

"You are well? Unhurt?" Matt asked Sora.

She released her clasp on his neck but still kept her arm around his waist. "Tired and bruised but not hurt. It is Mimi who was hurt today."

Matt stared across the darkness at his wife, who still sat on her cot. Sora slipped away from him. "You have nothing to say to me?" Matt said softly to Mimi.

"Why are you alive?" she asked in an angry tone, her heart pounding in her ears.

Matt did not take offense as he smiled and stepped toward her. "You _are_ glad to see me."

"We were taken captive and made into slaves," Mimi said angrily. "They use us as oxen to unload wagons full of stolen goods. I had thought that you were dead or else you would have come for us, but you are not dead." She said the last as if it were an accusation. Somehow, she felt betrayed by him. The last time she had seen him he had been looking at her with hatred, and for days she had done little but cry because she thought he was dead. But here he was, not only alive but free as well.

Matt kept walking toward her, and when at last he was in front of her, he put his hands on her shoulders.

Mimi leapt off the cot and flung her body against his, holding onto him with all her might. "You are not dead. You are not dead," she kept repeating in wonder.

"No, my love," he whispered, stroking her sore back. "I am not dead."

After a few moments, he pulled away from her. "We must talk. Come, Sora, sit here by us. I want to have you both near me. We haven't much time."

He put an arm around each woman, as if he feared they might disappear, and began to explain what had happened to him and the other men in the last few days.

"You _believed_ them?" Mimi asked, incredulous. "These women slipped into our camp and put their hideous potion over our mouths and hit me, and you believed them when they said they had left us quietly sleeping? You are a—"

Matt kissed her. "I have missed you, Mimi. However I got us into this, I must get us out."

"You…" Mimi said. "You are the cause of this. If you hadn't—"

"She thought you were dead," Sora interrupted, "and she has done nothing but cry since we were taken. I have never seen her cry before and now she does nothing else. She talks of nothing but how much she regrets never trying to help you unite the tribes and never being able to tell you that she loved you."

"Is this true, Mimi?" Matt whispered.

Mimi turned away. "One says things in grief."

Matt put his fingertips under her chin and kissed her tenderly. "I tried to make a decision as a king. I went with the Shatterhearts because the king wanted to unite them with the other tribes, but the man came to regret that decision. I was a fool, Mimi, just as you have told me a thousand times."

She looked into his eyes. "But you meant well," she whispered and he kissed her again.

"As you did the day Iori was killed," he whispered, and was amazed to see tears in Mimi's eyes. "You gave me strength when I would have failed my country and you let no one see me in my weakness."

"Matt!" came an urgent whisper from the doorway. It was Tai, and Sora went to him but he motioned her away. Immediately, she became a warrior again.

"We must go," Tai said. "Even Ken is failing."

"Failing?" Mimi asked, pushing away from Matt and starting to rise. "Sora and I are ready. We will leave with you."

Matt cleared his throat nervously. "We cannot take you," he said. "There are too many of them and too few of us. I could visit you only because the Frenzyhearts and Ken are, ah, keeping the guards, ah, busy. Mimi, do not look at me like that. I will get you out of here, but you cannot expect me to wage war on a city of women, my own Draconian women."

"Women!" she gasped, standing and glaring at him. "These delicate little women have Sora and me pulling rocks out of pathways, digging water mills out of mud, hauling great bags of grain, repairing stone walls. We are being used as _horses_ while you men are… are exhausting yourselves trying to impregnate them."

"I am not, Mimi," Matt said pleadingly. "I swear to you that I have not touched one of them. I am sure they will let us live as long as I, the king, do not give a woman my child."

Mimi's eyes bulged in rage. "How much you are sacrificing for us!" she half yelled.

Matt tried to take her in his arms but she twisted away. "Mimi, please trust me."

"Like you trusted these women? You went off with these sweet little vixens and left Sora and me and Jun to rot."

"That's not true," he began, "I—" Matt was confused and pleased by Mimi at the same time. She was hissing at him like a jealous woman. No coolheaded guardswoman was attacking him. She was an angry wife who thought her husband was sleeping with other women. She really did care more for _him_ than for Draconia.

"Matt!" Tai said urgently. "We must go. Junpei will hear of this if we do not go soon. He will have all of us killed."

Matt moved away from Mimi with regret. Never had he wanted her so much as now. He was tempted to abdicate to Ken and get out of Draconia. He'd take Mimi with him back home. Even as he thought this, he knew it wasn't possible. "Give me two days," he whispered. "I will have you out of here in two days."

He left, and in the stillness he left behind, Sora tried to talk to Mimi, but she was too angry to listen. She felt betrayed one minute and the next she knew Matt should have gone with the Shatterhearts and left the Mistheart women behind. She was too confused to sleep. If she had married Tai, she would never have expected their marriage to stand in the way of what was good for her country. So why did it enrage her when Matt chose Draconia over her?

Before dawn she went to the doorway to look at the silhouette of Junpei's great palace, and the thought of Matt inside and perhaps lying with another woman made her furious. But the way she was thinking was not Draconian. And this was not the way it was supposed to be. She was supposed to think first of her country, not of herself.

She leaned her head against the coolness of the stone doorway and tried to think clearly but she could not. All she knew was that she wanted Matt back. She did not want to wait until he grew tired of his Shatterheart women or until her arrogant brother had had enough. She was willing to make a wager that Ken had never given a thought to what had happened to Sora and Mimi, much less Jun, who had humiliated him. Ken had never had much compassion for others.

When Mimi had thought Matt was dead, she regretted that she had never a chance to help him with Draconia. Now she was being given that chance.

"Mimi," Sora said softly, "have you been awake all night?"

Mimi turned bright eyes on her friend. "We are going to get ourselves out of here," she said. "And we are going to use Matt's weapons: words. We are not going to kill and maim—as much as I want to—we are going to do worse. We are going to tell these women what greasy Junpei has kept from them, that there are men, hundreds of men, out there, and that each woman can have her own man and all the male children she wants."

"But we don't speak their language," Sora said, "and Matt said he'd get us out in two days. Shouldn't we do what he wants?"

"We're going to _help_ him," Mimi said firmly.

There was only one of the women guards who spoke the Mistheart language and it took Mimi a while to get her to listen. She kept telling Mimi to get back to work. But at midmorning every woman in sight came to a halt as Junpei came down the street, lounging in a carriage, four beautiful young women hovering near him. Junpei was fat, dirty, greasy, and ugly.

Behind him in two other carriages came Matt, Tai, Ken, and the Frenzyhearts. Mimi could feel the quiver of excitement run through the women as they looked at these strong, healthy, virile men. Mimi clenched her fists at her sides as Matt went by. A pretty little Shatterheart was practically sitting in his lap.

"How weak those men look," Mimi said as if suppressing a yawn.

The little Shatterheart who spoke her language looked at her in surprise.

"In my country, we women wouldn't look at such men, we would send them away," Mimi said as if greatly bored. "Can we return to work now? I would rather work than look at such weaklings as those."

Mimi could feel that she had the woman's attention, and when she heard the woman whispering to the others, she knew it was going to work.

Not long afterward, she and Sora were back at hauling rocks from a field when the woman began asking questions about where Mimi lived, and, specifically, about the men there.

Mimi wiped the sweat from her brow, leaned on her pike, and began to talk of marriages between one man and one woman. She had to pause while this was translated and to allow the women to gasp over this idea.

By sundown she and Sora were sitting under separate trees in the shade and drinking cool fruit juices while spinning stories about the hundreds of available men in the rest of Draconia. The Shatterhearts especially loved to hear of the strong Og'rilah men who had only ugly, big women.

Mimi answered all their questions, even the ones about how the Mistheart men could possibly like women as tall as Mimi and Sora. "They manage," Mimi said with a forced smile, having great difficulty suppressing the urge to punch the short little woman in the mouth.

That night she slept more easily than she had since being captured.

In the morning there were over a hundred women waiting for her and Sora outside the building, and they did nothing all day except talk. Most of the women were young and did not remember when there had been men available, so Mimi's talk seemed like a fairy tale to them.

On this second day Mimi did not just talk of the men of other tribes, but began to talk of the Shatterheart men and how unfair it was that the women had to worship them and obey them because of their scarcity. Mimi had told them of her own defiance of her husband, not mentioning that Matt was her husband. The women had her repeat a few episodes in disbelief.

"And he loves you still?" one woman asked through an interpreter. "You do not have to be perfect to keep a man? He does not cast you out if you are not kind and loving and sweet-tempered at all times?"

"You can say what you actually think without fear of punishment?"

"You can get angry at a _man_?"

"Yes," Mimi answered. "And your husband is faithful to you or you have the right to complain in court. Or you can geld him…"

Sora gave her a look.

"I would!" Mimi said, "But yes, _you_ can cast _him_ out."

By nightfall, Mimi's throat was raw from talking so much, but from the expressions on the women's faces, she knew she had made an impression. As they walked back to the town, Shatterheart women everywhere were pointing and nodding at them and talking seriously among themselves. Mimi smiled to herself. Perhaps Matt's way of fighting had some advantages to it. She didn't think she could have caused more commotion if she had attacked the city with an army of guardsmen and women.

With a jaw-snapping yawn, she wondered what the morrow would bring.

Matt was just waking when the first noises sounded outside the palace. He had not been able to go to sleep until quite late for worry about how to get them out of this situation. The other men seemed content to remain with the Shatterheart women for the rest of their lives, but Matt, much to his disbelief, was finding the women's fawning annoying. Tonight he had had a great deal of difficulty persuading the women he wanted no bed partner. He smiled to himself, knowing that it wasn't that he wouldn't love the attentions of one of the women, but the fear of Mimi's wrath was more than he liked to contemplate.

"Winning Draconia is easy but winning Mimi is next to impossible," he muttered, then went back to trying to solve the problem of getting all of them out of their silken prison without having to hurt a woman or offend greasy fat Junpei.

At the first sound of women's voices raised in anger, Matt did not react. After having spent time with the volatile Misthearts and then Jun, a woman shouting in rage was a commonplace occurrence. But then he remembered that he was in a land where women were in a to-the-death competition for men and they competed with soft words and languorous smiles.

He sat up in bed. "What has Mimi done now?" he asked aloud, and knew without a doubt that whatever the women were angry about was caused by Mimi.

In moments he was dressed, hurriedly wrapping his cross garters about his legs, then running along the corridors to the rooms of the other men, who were each wrapped about one, two, or in Ken's case, three women. He ordered the men into the great room _immediately_. Only Ken gave him trouble.

"You'll be there or I'll come for you," Matt said, slamming the door and beginning to run, Tai and the others on his heels.

What looked to be an army of women was streaming into the palace, each face angry, and in their hands they carried whatever they could use as weapons: rakes, shovels, hand axes, long bone needles, and clubs of various sizes. They were such small women and armed so poorly that they were almost an amusing sight—but Matt did not laugh.

Matt grabbed the arm of a woman near the front, a beautiful dark-haired wench. "What has happened?" he asked in their language.

She sneered at him. "We have been lied to," she yelled. "We were told that _all_ men died of the sickness, that the only ones left were here in our city, but Mimi says that is not so."

Matt groaned as he released the woman then turned to translate to the other men.

"Mimi!" Ken snorted. "I should have known she would ruin paradise."

Matt grabbed his half-brother's tunic front. "Your sister has been in slavery while you were fucking wenches and eating figs. Now we have to stop this or we'll have a war on our hands."

Ken twisted from Matt's grasp. "Let them kill fat Junpei. What do I care? I will rule the Shatterhearts. You have taken the Misthearts from me, so I will take the Shatterhearts."

It was Mimi, Sora behind her, who pushed her way through the crowd just in time to hear her brother's words. "You are not fit to rule yourself much less a tribe," she yelled at him. "You think only of yourself, not of your people or your country. You are not loyal to the Misthearts or anyone else in Draconia. You could not even spend the night with Jun without starting a war. You may think so highly of yourself that you believe these women would love to follow you, but right now they are too angry to think." She looked at the other men and they were now surrounded by angry little women as they surged through the palace. "They are furious as Junpei for lying to them over the years, and their blood is up. They may not stop at killing one man but may decide to kill or geld _all_ men. We have to get you out." Mimi turned to leave, but Matt caught her arm.

"You did not side with your brother," he shouted to her.

"My brother is Mistheart, not Draconian," she said somewhat annoyed. "Is there another way out of here? Please, Matt, do not try to talk your way out of this. These women seek blood."

He took a moment to caress her cheek, and then turned back toward the wing of bedchambers. "Follow me," he ordered, and only Ken hesitated. Matt grabbed his half-brother's shoulder and pulled him with the others.

Like a reluctant boy, Ken fought. "Unhand me, you usurper. The women will not harm me. I am their master."

Quite calmly, Mimi walked over to her brother and punched him square in the face. He crumpled gracefully to the floor.

Matt looked at her in amazement and him in disgust. "Now how do we get him out?"

"You must carry him. Come on, we haven't much time to lose. I think the women are looting the palace."

Matt, without arguing, took an order from a woman and heaved the tall Ken over his shoulder, then once again took the lead as he went down a corridor. There was no other door besides the front one, but in the last few years of safety the Shatterhearts had become lax and had built a granary near one of the palace windows.

"Tai!" Matt called out. "Take that marble and put it between the buildings."

It took four men and Sora and Mimi to put the long thick slab of marble between the two buildings, forming a slide. It was precariously positioned and the slippery surface made it dangerous.

"I will go first," Mimi said, but Matt pulled her back.

"_I_ will test it. Take care of your brother. He is waking."

Mimi only gave a quick glance to Ken as he sat on the floor and began to rub his aching face. Matt slid across the marble slab to the safety of the other building. When he was across, one by one, the others followed him.

Ken refused to go with them. "I will stay here. This is where I belong," he told Mimi. "I will not be second to that usurper."

"He is more Draconian than you are," she said. "Hiro knew what he was doing."

"I am betrayed on all sides," Ken said grimly. "Go with him. I will stay here and bring order out of this chaos."

Mimi was already on the marble slab but she didn't release the windowsill as she watched her brother straighten his shoulders and head back toward the women.

"Mimi, come on," Matt shouted behind her.

She made a decision. "I must go after him," she yelled to Matt, then threw her leg back over the window.

Matt allowed himself a few precious moments of cursing, then he untied his boots and went up the inclined marble. The only way he could hold on to it was with his bare feet. Behind him the others begged him not to go, but he ordered them to leave the city as fast as possible.

There was no sign of Mimi or Ken in the corridor but there were several Shatterheart women removing tapestries from the walls. They paused and glared at Matt in hatred. Yesterday he had been a god and today he was a demon.

He gave the women a tentative little smile and hurried past them. It wasn't difficult to see Mimi and Ken, since they were a foot taller than the women. Mimi was bodily protecting her brother and trying to talk to the women, but no one understood her.

"Junpei is getting away with the gold!" Matt shouted in their language, but got no response. "Junpei is taking the children!" He had to repeat himself a few times as he pointed toward Junpei's quarters in the north end of the palace, but he was able to turn the crowd's attention away from Mimi and Ken.

"I knew you would come," Mimi said, smiling at him. "You should have gone with the others but I knew you would not."

"Follow me," Matt ordered, "and do not do anything foolish." He gave an angry look at the sword she had taken from the walls. "Do not hurt any of my people."

"These _people_ tried to kill me," Ken said. "I think—"

"Quiet!" Mimi ordered. "Do as your king commands and follow."

Matt blinked a couple of times at her words, then began to lead them through the shoving women. Every time a group of women stopped and stared at them, Matt yelled, "Junpei," and pointed toward the bowels of the castle.

They made it almost to the city gates before the women turned on them.

"There are two of them!" a woman yelled.

"They have kept us prisoners. They have denied us husbands and children. We will kill them and free ourselves."

The women stood in front of the open gateway while other women tried to shove the heavy gates closed.

"Run!" Matt ordered. "Kill no one!"

Mimi was not attacked but the men were. Out of instinct, she protected Matt's body with her own as the women used what weapons they had. Matt had his head down, trying to protect himself from the blows and so did not see Ken knock one woman after another down. Mimi knew that Matt's love for his people extended to protecting them at the cost of his own skin.

They made it through the gate and the women chased them for a while but not for long as Mimi, Ken, and Matt made their way toward the mountains.

After nearly an hour or running, they stopped for breath. "We must find the others," Mimi said, and only then did she look at Matt. His pale skin was white and beneath his cloak was a growing bloodstain. His bare feet were also bleeding.

Mimi put her arms around him in a motherly way and bade him sit down.

"I must—"

"No," she said softly, "you have done enough for now. It is time that you allowed others to help you." She looked up at Ken. "Go ahead and find the others. Tell them that our king is injured and tell them to send Tai to find Jun." She looked back at Matt. "If that is what you think we should do. I mean—"

Matt leaned forward and kissed her. "I was thinking the same also, and since we are one it does not matter who says it."

"Mimi, I—" Ken began.

"Go!" Mimi snapped. "You have caused enough trouble. Tomorrow you may thank our king for your life."

Reluctantly, Ken turned away, up the path to look for the others.

"Mimi, I am not hurt so much," Matt said softly. "You can bandage me and I can travel."

Tenderly, she used Matt's knife to cut away his tunic and examine the shoulder wound he had received from an ax blade.

Matt put his hand to her face. "You have called me king and Draconian. Do you mean to say that you love me? Do you not hope for my death so that you may marry Tai?"

She looked long and hard into his blue eyes. "I was raised by your father to think of war first and I loved Tai because he caused me no conflict of interest. With Tai I would have chosen Draconia over my marriage. But you have always confused me. You have shown me real love: a love for my country that goes beyond war and a love for a man that is…"

"Is what?"

"A love that permeates me." She put both hands on his face. "Matt, my husband, if you were to die, my soul should die too. For every drop of blood that comes from your wound, my heart sheds an equal amount. This… this pain I feel when I am near you, I did not know it was love."

He kissed her softly. "I feel I have earned your love, Mimi. I have suffered and bled and withstood great abuse to gain your love."

"That is not so," she protested, then a bit of a smile touched her lips. "Has it been worth it?"

"Yes," he said softly. "I thought I wanted a woman like… like these Shatterhearts, who would soften my life, but you are more than a wife to me. You have helped me, Mimi. You have helped me to understand the ways of our people."

She pulled back from him. "Helped you? I have kept you from being killed. You would never have done what you have without me. If I hadn't been unconscious, I would not have let you enter this city alone. You trust too much. You believe everyone is full of goodness."

"Except you, Mimi. You're full of fire and brimstone and you take credit for everything. _I_ am the one who has united Draconia. _I_ am—"

"With _my_ help," she said loudly.

Suddenly, Matt smiled. "I guess we work well together. Perhaps we should continue to work together. Now are you going to let me bleed to death or are we going to stay here and let that stupid brother of yours go after Jun and start a war?"

"Ken is not stupid. He is…"

"Yes?" Matt asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Your brother. And ill-tempered. Perhaps we should give him a tiny corner of Draconia and tell him it is his own kingdom. He could cause much trouble to us as we unite the rest of the tribes, and we don't want him angering the Og'rilah men when we give them the Shatterheart women." She began tearing the bottom off her tunic to bandage Matt's shoulder.

"What! Give those sweet little women to those ogres?"

"Those 'sweet' women as you call them nearly worked Sora and me to death, and one of them took a whip to me… your queen."

"Yes, but—" he protested, but Mimi kissed him, and as always, he thought of nothing else, not Draconia or the Misthearts or where Jun was. He had loved Mimi from the first moment he saw her and he would always love her. And now they had years ahead to unite the tribes and to love and argue. He smiled against her lips and held her tight. He was happy.

Over the top of the ridge came Sora and Tai, and they paused when they heard the raised voices of Matt and Mimi.

Sora smiled. "I think they are unhurt."

"Mimi loves him," Tai said, and there was finality in his voice but no regret. "I think she would give her life for him."

Sora looked at Tai. "It hurts you to have lost her completely?"

"I feel like a protective older brother losing an adoring little sister. I know now that Mimi and I never… lusted for one another." He smiled in memory. "Not like the Shatterheart women."

"So!" Sora said coldly. "You like those soft women who do not know a sword from a hair comb?"

Tai looked at her in surprise, then his eyes warmed. "Sora, I love the way your breasts move when you throw a lance. Shall we go down to our king and queen? The sooner we get out of here and find Jun, the sooner you and I can get married."

He started walking down the hill, but it took Sora a moment to recover herself. Then, smiling hugely, she followed Tai.

(**A/N: **I'm sorry I took so long. My laptop broke and I had no internet because I moved into a new apartment. I hope you like this long awaited chapter and please review! I will be posting the epilogue as well. Thank you!)


	17. Epilogue

(**Disclaimer & Warning:** I don't own Digimon, its characters, nor the plot. Take note that this is MIMATO so if you're not a fan, don't read it. I respect those who are not fans of this couple, but I will not tolerate spamming and flames from them.)

_**THE MAIDEN**_

**Epilogue  
A Land United**

Hiroki did not demand Matt's life in payment for Iori's death. By the time Matt saw Hiroki again, nearly all the tribes were united, with Matt as their king. Hiroki wisely knew that if he harmed Matt it would be the death of him and his people. So, in exchange for Matt's life, he took a hundred of the most beautiful Shatterheart women.

Jun married Koushiro and the two of them fought each other for power so fiercely that they were little trouble to Matt. On Koushiro's death, Tai and Sora inherited what little wealth the Frenzyhearts had.

Matt declared the rulers of each tribe to be dukes. Ken was given his own little land to rule as Mimi suggested.

As for Matt and Mimi…

They broke from their passionate kiss, their sweaty bodies molded perfectly together as they looked into each other's eyes.

"From the moment I saw you, you were mine. And now, our people shall know of our love," he said softly as he put his hand over her still-flat belly.

"And how many shall we create, my love?" she asked, kissing him lightly on the lips.

"How does a dozen sound?" he said half-jokingly.

"Not enough," she chuckled as she pulled him into a kiss so full of desire, words could not describe the hunger and love they felt for each other.

Shortly after they returned, they renewed their vows and celebrated a proper coronation. They made love as often as they desired and spawned their own beautiful little army of cherubs.

In a land once torn apart by war and chaos, there was finally peace.

_**The End**_

(**A/N: **That's it! Alas, it is finished. I hope you enjoyed the story and for those who have not reviewed, please do now and let me know what you thought of it overall. Thanks for taking your time to read this, and in the words of us eternal fans, _Mimato forever_.)


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